BV  109C 

)  .S69  185:^ 

Smyth, 

Thomas,  1808- 

-1873 

The  nature  and  claims  of 

Young 

Men's  Christ 

ian 

i^,-;w 


THE 


NATURE    AXD    CLAIMS 

OP 

YOUNG  MEN'S 


BY  THE  REV.  THOMAS  SMYTH,  D.D. 

CHARLESTON,  S.  C. 


The  glort  of  toung  men  is  their  steength."— Prov.  xx.  29, 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  &  CO. 

1857. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1857,  by 

Rev.  THOMAS  SMYTH,  D.D. 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 

STEREOTYPED  BY  L.  JOHNSON  &  CO. 
PHILADELPHIA. 


DEDICATED, 


WITH  HEARTFELT    CON&RATULATIONS   FOB  THEIR  PAST 
ACHIEVEMENTS, 


WITH    EARNEST    HOPES,    EXPECTATIONS,   AND    PRAYERS    FOR    THEIR 

FUTURE   PROSPERITY  AND   PROGRESS, 

TO  THE 

|0ung  Pni's  C|rfatian  Ji$$0riati0ns 

IN    THE    UNITED    STATES 

AND   THROUGHOUT   THE   CHRISTIAN  WORLD; 

AND,   PERSONALLY,   TO   MY   GREATLY   ESTEEMED   FRIEND, 

ROBERT  C.  GILCHRIST, 

U.  S.  C. 

AND 

^usibjent  of  ll^e  l^oKttg  Pitt's  Christian  g^ssotialion 

OF    CHARLESTON,   S.  C. 


Hot  precious  a  thing  is  youthful  energy,  if  only  it  could  be  preserved 
entirely  englohed,  as  it  were,  within  the  bosom  of  the  young  adventurer, 
till  he  can  come  and  offer  it  forth  a  sacred  emanation  on  yonder  temple 
of  truth  and  virtue.  But,  alas!  all  along  as  he  goes  towards  it  he  ad- 
vances through  an  avenue  formed  by  a  long  line  of  tempters  and  de- 
mons on  each  side,  all  prompt  to  touch  him  with  their  conductors  and 
draw  the  divine  electric  element,  with  which  he  is  charged,  away. 

John  Foster. 

The  way  of  every  man  is  declarative  of  the  end  of  every  man. 

Cecil. 

Youthful  excesses  are  drafts  on  manhood  and  old  age,  most  generally 
finding  them  bankrupt  and  beggars  or  not  finding  them  at  all. 

Voices  of  Nature. 

Habits  of  youthful  piety  are  drafts  on  God,  payable  at  sight,  for  tho 
support  and  comfort  of  manhood,  old  age,  death,  and  immortality. 

Ibid 

Sinful  habits  are  grave-clothes  of  souls,  by  which  they  are  bound  by 
Satan  for  an  everlasting  burial.  Ibid. 

Centre-pieces  of  wood  are  put  by  builders  under  an  arch  of  stone, 
while  it  is  in  the  process  of  construction,  till  the  keystone  is  put  in, 
Just  such  is  the  use  Satan  makes  of  pleasures  to  construct  evil  habits 
upon :  the  pleasure  lasts  perhaps  until  the  habits  are  fully  formed,  but, 
that  done,  the  structure  may  stand  eternal ;  the  pleasures  are  sent  for 
firewood,  and  the  hell  begins  in  this  life.  Coleridge 

Though  tht  way  i?e  dark  and  long, 
Think  of  them  that  now  on  high 
Have  attain'd  the  victory. 
In  a  moment  'twill  he  past, 
And  the  endless  die  be  cast 
In  that  place  where  time  is  not, 
Thoughts  that  are  on  earth  forgot 
Take  their  place  and  ever  dwell. 
Set  in  calm  unspeakable. 
And  enshrined  in  silence  stay 
To  abide  the  dreadful  day. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Prefatory  Remarks 5 

The  Principle  of  Association 7 

All  Association  powerful — Christian  Association  glorious...  13 

The  Principle  of  Association  originated  by  Christianity 15 

Christianity  provides  for  Christian,  as  well  as  Ecclesiastical, 

Associations 17 

The  Glory  of  Man,  and  of  Young  Men  apecially 29 

Great  Men  have  performed  their  Great  Actions  while  young.  33 

The  Strength  of  Youth  a  Solemn  Trust 34 

Youthful  Sins  Manhood's  Sorrows  and  Death's  Pangs 37 

The  Glory  of  Youthful  Piety  and  Young  Men  the  Strength 

of  every  Community 43 

The  Peculiar  Temptations  of  Young  Men 44 

Youth  the  Crisis  of  Man's  Character  and  Destiny 47 

The  Number  and  Importance  of  Young  Men  in  any  Com- 
munity   48 

The   Importance  and  Claims  of  Young  Men's  Christian 

Associations 49 

The  Advantages  they  secure  to  Young  Men 50 

All  Christian  Young  Men  of  every  Denomination  may  unite  51 
"Why  these  Associations  require  Liberal  Assistance   and 

Large  Resources 54 

3 


4  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

An  Appeal  to  Merchants  and  Citizens 55 

Why  all    Christians,  and  Young   Men  specially,  require 

Association 58 

Association  only  Powerful  when  Voluntary 61 

Christian  Young  Men  urged  by  Gratitude  to  Piety,  Zeal, 

and  Devotion 64 

The  Power  of  Association  exercised  by  Books,  etc.  as  much 

as  by  Persons 66 

The  Explanation  of  a  Mystery 69 

Christian  Young  Men  earnestly  implored  to  seek  the  Salva- 
tion of  others 71 

Illustrations  of  the  Power  of  Christian  Young  Men 75 

Christian  Young  Men  must  exemplify  Christian  Charity...  80 

Youth  is  Fruitful  of  Expedients 88 

Youth  is  also  Bold  and  Energetic 88 

What  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  have  already 

done 89 

What  these  Associations  may  yet  accomplish 94 

The  number  of  Christian  Young  Men  in  the  United  States.  95 

The  Glorious  Confederation  of  all  Christian  Young  Men...  97 

Christian  Young  Men  the  Bond  of  National  Union 100 

The    Communion  of  Citizenship  and   the    Communion  of 

Saints 110 

The  Appeal 113 

Sketches  of  Young  Men 115 

The  Place  for  Young  Men 121 


PEEFATORY  EEMARKS. 


The  substance  of  the  following  volume  was  prepared 
at  the  instance  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
of  Charleston,  S.C,  and  was  delivered  as  one  of  a  course 
of  lectures  during  the  past  year.  As  some  things  in  its 
application  refer  to  that  city,  it  is  deemed  best  to  retain 
their  original  form,  both  for  usefulness  there  and  as  an 
illustration  of  the  analogous  and  proportionate  adaptation 
of  such  associations  to  other  cities  and  communities. 

The  substance  of  the  discourse,  however,  was  devoted 
to  an  exhibition  of  the  nature  and  claims  of  such  asso- 
ciations in  general,  and  may,  it  is  hoped,  and  as  the 
author  has  been  encouraged  to  believe,  be  useful  for  dis- 
tribution, as  an  introduction  to  a  true  knowledge  of 
their  character  and  importance, — as  an  encouragement  to 
young  men  who  are  not,  as  well  as  those  who  are,  pro- 
fessors of  religion,  to  become  associated  with  them, — and 
also  as  a  portraiture  of  what  these  associations  ought  to 
be,  what  by  the  blessing  of  God  they  may  be,  and  what  in 
order  to  fulfil  their  perfect  work  and  ministry  of  love  they 
must  be. 


PREFATORY   REMARKS. 


And  may  that  divine  Saviour  from  whose  glorious  gospel 
these  associations  derive  their  life  make  this  and  every 
other  means  employed  for  their  advancement  powerful, 
through  His  Holy  Spirit,  to  the  salvation  and  sanctification 
of  many  souls!     Then  shall  these  thoughts 

However  poor  portray'd,  set  forth  to  view 

With  feeble  eloquence,  be  such  as  may 

Arrest  some  glance,  some  thought,  which,  entering  in 

The  door  of  the  life-kindling,  shaping  soul, 

May  haply  there  take  root  in  tender  soil. 

In  youth's  soft  heart  plant  the  immortal  shoot 

Of  heaven-born  virtue,  which  shall  bear  him  fruit, 

And  bind  his  locks  with  amaranthine  wreath; 

May  to  the  fount  of  action  entrance  find. 

That  streams  which  issue  thence  may  bear  the  tinge 

Of  hope  and  dread  expectance  of  the  Judge 

With  echoing  blast  of  the  archangel's  trump. 

Reader  and  writer  on  that  morn  must  meet : 

Thrice  happy,  could  this  theme  arouse  but  one. 

That,  when  all  hearts  are  open'd,  then  this  mark— 

(On  which  men's  fate  is  made  to  hang  alone) — 

Whether  he  has  loved  God  or  has  loved  self, 

Has  lived  to  Christ,  or  while  he  lived  was  dead,— 

May  on  his  soul  be  found  by  God  impress'd 

This  is  the  mirror  wherein  souls  are  seen ; 

This  is  the  Book.    On  this  the  scale  depends. 

This  is  announced  to  the  eternal  years, 

And  such  alone  pass  to  the  rest  of  God. 


In  addressing  you,  my  young  friends,  I  will, 
without  preface,  endeavour  to  present  the  nature 
and  claims  of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 

In  doing  so,  the  very  first  point  to  which  atten- 
tion shall  be  directed  is  the  principle  of  association 
on  which  these  Societies  are  based. 

The  principle  of  association  holds  a  conspicuous 
place  among  the  most  potent  forces  that  are  now 
acting  upon  the  world, — silent,  invisible,  and  unpre- 
tending in  its  working,  and  yet  powerful  in  its 
results  beyond  all  other  moral  agencies.  This  has 
become  proverbial.  "Union  is  strength,"  and 
"United  we  conquer,  while  divided  we  fall,"  are 
now  familiar  applications  to  every  interest  of  hu- 
manity of  our  Saviour's  aphorism  that  a  house 
divided  against  itself  cannot  stand,  and  of  those 
other  scriptural  proverbs  that  "in  the  multitude  of 

7 


YOUNG    MEN  S 


counsellors  there  is  safety,"  and  that  in  them  also 
^^  purposes  are  established." 

The  foundations  on  which  this  principle  of  associa- 
tion is  based  are  deep-laid  in  the  most  essential 
powers  and  sympathies  of  our  nature.  It  takes 
hold  of  them  all,  and  combines  them  all  in  one  con- 
centrated, steady,  and  progressive  force. 

Association  becomes  wisdom,  by  the  united  coun- 
sels of  the  multitude  it  brings  together. 

Association  is  also  power;  for  this  wisdom  is 
power, — power  to  ascertain  the  true  character  and 
dimensions  of  the  evil  to  be  overcome  or  the  good 
to  be  secured  and  the  best  time  and  manner  in  which 
that  evil  is  to  be  assailed,  and  thus  bring  together 
all  the  resources  of  such  combined  energy  that 
can  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  designed  end. 
Ants  are  very  insignificant  creatures;  but  when 
associated  together  they  can  build  cities,  fill  them 
with  well-stored  granaries,  and  wage  resistless  war- 
fare against  their  enemies.  A  bee  is  very  tiny, 
and,  individually,  very  powerless;  but  bees  when 
associated  in  swarms  are  more  than  a  match  for 
the  fiercest  animal,  and  for  man  himself.  A  single 
wolf  may  well  be  dreaded;  but  a  full  pack  of  hungry 
wolves  must  blanch  with  fear  the  stoutest  heart, 
even  though  clad  in  mail  and  armed  cap-a-pie. 
And  thus  also  it  is  that,  while  one  sinner  can  destroy 
much  good,  and  one  spiritual  enemy  is  to  be  feared, 
it   is  when  combined  in  a  godless  confederacy,  or 


CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATIONS.  9 


into  a  well-disciplined  host,  that  virtue  and  patriot- 
ism may  be  filled  with  well-grounded  alarm  and 
aroused  to  that  conflict  which  finds  in  union  strength, 
and  in  patriotic  valour,  victory. 

Association  therefore  becomes  wisdom  and  power 
for  evil  or  for  good  in  proportion  as  it  is  the  combi- 
nation of  the  wisdom  and  power,  the  virtue  or  the 
vice,  of  many.  And  while  in  itself  it  is  only  an 
abstract  principle,  having  no  vitality  or  will,  it  be- 
comes endued  with  marvellous  potency,  and  generates 
even  the  principle  of  life.  Life  depends  not  upon 
the  existence  of  any  individual  particles  or  even  of  or- 
ganic structures,  but  upon  a  body  in  which  many  such 
are  organically  united  and  fitly  joined  together  by 
that  which  every  joint  supplieth,  and  the  whole  ani- 
mated and  controlled  by  one  living  spirit.  And  so 
it  is  not  in  any  single  separate  member  of  a  class  of 
people  that  their  social,  civil,  political,  moral,  or  reli- 
gious life  is  found,  but  in  the  association  of  that  class 
in  some  form  of  organized  and  well-conducted  union. 
Osiris,  whatever  we  make  this  mythological  cha- 
racter to  represent,  is  dead  and  inoperative  so  long 
as  his  members  lie  scattered  over  the  world,  and 
becomes  instinct  with  life  and  power  only  when 
these  disjecta  memhra  are  reconstructed  in  one 
living  body.  A  body  may  be  organically  perfect  in 
every  limb,  joint,  and  muscle.  The  lungs  may 
play  and  the  heart  beat.  The  eyes  may  see  and 
the  ear  hear,  and  the  hand  grasp  and  the  feet  move. 


10  YOUNG   men's 


And,  wliile  tlie  mouth,  can  receive  and  the  stomach. 
digest  nourishing  food,  that  body  may  live  and  move 
and  have  being.  And  yet  it  may  be  a  paralyzed, 
feeble,  halting,  and  imbecile  body,  incapable  of  any 
active,  strenuous,  energetic  exertion,  of  any  high, 
patriotic,  or  benevolent  enterprise.  But  let  those 
various  organs  receive  the  vitalizing,  sustaining  co- 
operation of  all  tbe  myriad  invisible  nerves;  let 
these,  however  silently  and  involuntarily,  contribute 
each  in  their  own  minute  locality  their  proportion 
of  strength;  and,  by  that  association  of  parts  and 
powers,  a  body  otherwise  feeble  and  inoperative 
becomes  strong,  and  powerful,  and  capable  of  indo- 
mitable energy. 

The  power  of  any  body,  therefore,  lies  not  in  the 
combination  of  organs  all  equally  strong,  vigorous, 
and  important.  Some  are  and  must  be  such.  Some 
are  and  must  be  prominent : — the  eye  to  see,  the 
tongue  to  speak,  the  head  to  plan,  the  hands  to 
execute,  and  the  feet  to  convey  and  sustain.  But 
these  are  not  on  this  account  more  essential,  though 
more  observed  and  honoured.  The  lungs  which 
play,  the  heart  which  beats,  the  nerves  which  feel  and 
receive  and  give  quick  and  lightning  sensibility,  are 
equally  essential.  And,  in  like  manner,  an  association 
of  men,  to  be  strong,  must  combine  rich  and  poor, 
humble  and  great,  learned  and  ignorant,  wise  and 
simple,  thinkers,  labourers,  soldiers  to  fight,  sappers 
and  miners  to  prepare  the  way  and  remove  obsta- 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  11 


cles,  those  that  "wait  beside  the  stuff"  and  manage 
the  internal  concerns,  and  the  poor  wise  man 
whose  counsel  on  an  emergency  may  save  the  city. 

Thy  servants  militant  below 

Have  each,  0  Lord,  their  post; 
As  thou  appoint'st  who  best  dost  know 

The  soldiers  of  thine  host : 
Some  in  the  van  thou  call'st  to  do 

And  the  day's  heat  to  share; 
And  in  the  rearward  not  a  few 

Thou  only  bidd'st  to  bear. 

Blessed  and  most  gracious  encouragement  to  all — 
in  all  times,  ages,  circumstances,  and  with  whatever 
of  strength,  talent,  means,  or  influence — to  associate 
together  in  the  Lord's  service,  under  the  Master's 
eye,  and  with  the  Master's  promise  that  if  there  be 
only  a  willing  mind  it  is  accepted,  "  not  according  to 
what  a  man  hath  not,  but  according  to  what  ho 
hath,"  and  to  what  he  purposeth  in  his  heart. 

By  no  new  path,  untried  before. 

Thy  servants  dost  Thou  lead; 
The  selfsame  promise  as  of  yore 

Supports  the  selfsame  need  : 
The  faith  for  which  thy  saints  endured 

The  dungeon  or  the  stake. 
That  very  faith,  with  hearts  assured, 

Upon  our  lips  we  take. 

Though  scatter'd  widely  left  and  right. 

And  sent  to  various  posts. 
One  is  the  battle  that  we  fight 

Beneath  one  Lokd  of  hosts. 


12  YOUNG    men's 


We  know  not,  wo  shall  never  know, 

Our  fellow-labourers  here ; 
But  they  that  strive  one  strife  below 

Shall  in  one  joy  appear. 

They  need,  0  Lord,  thy  special  grace 

That  fight  in  this  world's  view. 
But  in  the  sick-room  face  to  face 

Is  Satan  vanquished  too  : 
Both  need  the  same  protecting  hand 

To  keep  them  undefiled, 
And  both  shall  in  Thy  presence  stand, — 

The  martyr  and  thy  child  ! 

But  association  not  only  concentrates  knowledge, 
accumulates  power,  and  creates  social  life;  it 
awakens  sympathy.  As  face  answereth  to  face,  so 
does  tlie  heart  of  man  to  man.  It  is  instinct  with 
sympathy.  It  responds  with  electric  force  to  every 
impulse  from  kindred  souls.  Individually,  man 
holds  his  opinions  timidly,  and  ventures  to  act  upon 
them  cautiously  and  with  doubting  unbelief.  But 
when  they  are  embodied  in  a  constitution,  adopted 
by  others,  and  represented  in  living  acts,  they  re- 
ceive a  strength  which  is  ever  augmented  by  the 
play  of  sympathy  in  a  community  of  associated 
efforts.  Common  principles,  interests,  employments, 
and  enjoyments,  are  its  very  life-blood  and  im- 
part at  once  vitality,  energy,  and  sympathy  to  any 
society. 

Association  is,  on  all  these  accounts,  the  fountain 
of  PLEASURE.     It  draws  together.     It  inspires  con- 


CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATIONS.  13 


fidence.  It  gives  play  to  all  the  social  tendencies 
of  our  nature.  It  entices  a  man  out  of  his  own  soli- 
tary egotism,  vanity,  and  pride;  irradiates  his  gloom; 
sweetens  his  bitterness;  cheers  his  solitude;  dries 
his  tears;  inspires  hope;  kindles  ambition  and 
rivalry  to  excel ;  and  enlarges,  ennobles,  and  elevates 
by  the  full  activity  it  provides  for  all  the  powers  both 
of  mind  and  body. 

But,  to  pass  on  from  this  very  fruitful  topic,  I 
would  only  further  remark  that  association  secures 

PERMANENCE,    STABILITY,    and    GROWTH.      Life   in 

one  may  wane,  while  it  waxes  strong  in  another. 
Faith  in  one  may  be  weak,  while  in  another  it  is 
vigorous.  Hope  may  shine  tremblingly  in  one,  and 
yet  burn  brightly  in  his  neighbour.  Health  may 
fail  in  some,  and  yet  increase  and  strengthen  in  the 
rest.  Interest  in  the  common  object  may  lose  its 
power  over  some,  while  others  become  ignited  and 
rekindle  the  expiring  fire.  And  thus,  while  exist- 
ing members  may  perish,  yet  this  takes  place  so 
gradually  that  the  association  may  remain  un^ 
changed,  or  even  strengthen  and  increase 

ALL   association   POWERFUL — CHRISTIAN   ASSO- 
CIATION   GLORIOUS. 

As  an  ASSOCIATION,  therefore,  we  cannot  but 
regard  this  society  as  a  body  which  commands  our 
most  lively  and  earnest  attention  to  its  principles 


14  YOUNG   men's 


and  ENDS.  As  an  association,  it  is  an  embodiment 
of  knowledge,  power,  life,  sympathy,  enjoyment, 
and  permanent  and  progressive  stability.  But 
wlietber  it  is  such  for  good  or  evil  depends  upon  its 
principles  and  ends.  An  association  is  a  living, 
organized,  gigantic  power.  But,  if  its  associating 
principles  are  evil,  it  will  only  resemble  the  accumu- 
lated mass  of  snowy  particles  which  congeal  upon 
the  mountain's  brow  until  they  constitute  the 
avalanche,  the  fall  of  whose  illimitable  mass  carries 
resistless  destruction  to  the  plains  beneath.  But 
if,  on  the  other  hand,  its  cohering  principles  are 
beflign,  such  an  association  resembles  the  accu- 
mulation of  those  same  vaporous  particles  in  the 
clouds  of  heaven,  which  are  borne  along  by  the 
winds  until  they  pour  down  upon  every  dry  and 
thirsty  field  the  refreshing,  fertilizing  rain. 

What  importance,  therefore,  is  attached  to  this 
society  by  the  fact  that  it  is  a  Christian  associa- 
tion,— an  association  based  upon  Christian  truth; 
animated  by  Christian  principle;  actuated  by  Chris- 
tian motives;  breathing  only  the  atmosphere  of  Chris- 
tian love;  inspired  by  Christian  fellowship,  sympathy, 
and  experience ;  guided  and  sustained  by  Christian 
life ;  looking  for  its  wisdom  and  strength  to  heavenly 
teaching  and  divine  power ;  cementing  its  bonds  by 
mutual  prayer,  intercourse,  and  encouragement;  and 
aiming  only  at  the  Christian  and  God-like  ends  of 
mutual  instruction,  improvement,  usefulness,  health. 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  15 


happiness,  and  prosperity,  and  all  these  for  the  body 
as  well  as  for  the  soul,  for  this  world  as  well  as  the 
world  to  come,  for  eternity  as  well  as  time  ! 

What  sublimity  and  glory  are  found  in  the  con- 
templation of  such  an  association  !  How  does  it 
tower  above  all  others  outside  of  the  church,  like 
David  among  his  brethren,  or  Mount  Zion  among 
the  other  hills  of  the  Holy  Laud,  or  the  church  of 
God  among  all  other  associations  existing,  or  capable 
of  existence,  among  men  ! 

THE     PRINCIPLE    OF   ASSOCIATION    ORIGINATED    BY 
CHRISTIANITY. 

This  leads  me  to  observe  that  the  principle 
of  association,  like  every  other  good  and  perfect 
gift,  is  from  above,  and  is  the  direct  result  of  that 
very  Christianity  which  constitutes  the  avowed 
basis  of  this  society.  Though  apparently  so  obvious 
and  simple,  and  so  capable  of  universal  application, 
nevertheless,  the  principle  of  association  was  alto- 
gether unknown  in  the  ancient  world  and  among 
the  most  civilized  and  refined  nations.  Men  were 
indeed  always  banded  together  by  the  force  of 
circumstances,  by  sudden  and  temporary  impulse, 
by  stern  necessity,  or  by  the  overmastering  power 
of  despotism.  But  anterior  to  Christianity  men 
had  no  principle  to  combine  them  together  into 
voluntary  and  permanent   bodies,  and  no  common 


16  YOUNG    men's 


end  to  sustain  and  animate  their  hopes.  The  very 
reverse  was  the  object  aimed  at  by  every  govern- 
ment, and  by  every  individual.  Separation,  segre- 
gation, and  cautious  isolation  were  necessary  alike 
to  personal  security  and  to  undisturbed  public 
authority. 

"  They  forged  the  links  of  martial  law,  that  bind, 
Enslave,  imbrute,  and  mechanize  the  mind." 

Combinations  were  conspiracies,  or  the  explosions 
of  a  volcano, — the  terrific  ministry  of  inward  fires, 
which  after  their  devastating  outburst  soon  con- 
gealed, and  left  the  world  neither  wiser,  nor  better, 
nor  disenthralled.  The  will  of  one  or  of  a  few 
men,  or  the  caprice  of  tumultuous  passion  and 
wild  cabal,  determined  the  fate  and  fortune  of  mil- 
lions. 

The  principle  of  association  had  its  origin  in 
Christianity  and  its  first  exemplification  in  Christian 
churches.  Here  first  the  world  saw  men  volunta- 
rily combining  together  upon  the  basis  of  truths 
individually  received, — under  rules  and  forms  pub- 
licly acknowledged, — ^under  officers  chosen  from 
among  themselves, — and  for  the  accomplishment  of 
ends  common  to  them  all  and  yet  not  bearing  upon 
the  selfish  interests  of  any. 

Here  first  was  exemplified  that  divine  spirit  of 
Christian  love, — 


CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATIONS.  17 


"That  fire  which  in  each  breast  burns  all  beside, 
All  that  is  earthly,  all  of  selfish  love, 
Projects  of  low-brow'd  indolence  and  pride, — 
Until  they  feel  in  Christ  they  live  and  move 
And  breathe  regenerate  life  of  those  above." 

Thus  promulgated  and  developed,  the  world  has 
learned  the  unspeakable  value  of  this  principle,  and 
tas  found  in  it  the  lever  for  overthrowing  the 
mightiest  dynasties,  and  for  accomplishing  the 
greatest  revolutions  in  political  and  scientific 
theories;  so  that  association  is  now  the  very  first 
principle  in  all  movements  for  social,  civil,  or  moral 
reform. 

CHRISTIANITY  PROVIDES  FOR  CHRISTIAN,  AS  WELL 
AS   ECCLESIASTICAL,    ASSOCIATIONS. 

The  time,  we  hope,  has  also  come,  when,  under  the 
inspiration  of  Christian  truth,  Christian  principle, 
and  Christian  motives,  this  divinely-originated 
principle  of  association  will  be  employed  in  combin- 
ing together  the  talent,  influence,  piety,  and  energy 
of  all  who  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Ciirist,  both  theirs  and  ours,  for  the  advancement 
of  the  cause  of  Christ,  the  promotion  of  each  other's 
welfare,  and  the  best  interests  of  their  fellow-men. 

God  forbid  that  I  should  say  aught  to  dim  the 
lustre  or  cloud  the  glory  of  the  churches  of  Christ ! 

"  There  my  best  friends,  my  kindred,  dwell; 
There  God  my  Saviour  reigns." 
9* 


18  YOUNG   men's 


In  a  Christian  church  I  was  myself  born,  nurtured, 
and  fed.  With  it  are  associated  my  earliest  aspira- 
tions, my  warmest  thoughts,  my  purest  joys,  my  most 
sincere  and  substantial  pleasures  here  on  earth,  and  my 
clearest  views  and  most  satisfying  earnests  of  heaven. 
The  heart  needs  a  resting-place  such  as  the  world, 
with  all  its  paradises,  and  home,  with  all  its  delights, 
cannot  give;  and  it  finds  this  in  the  church.  The 
soul  needs  a  temple  where  it  may  retire,  apart  from 
all  human  teachers  and  all  the  vain  janglings  and  dis- 
cordant voices  of  man's  philosophy,  and,  sitting  at 
the  feet  of  Jesus,  have  its  best  principles  strength- 
ened, its  loftiest  aspirations  encouraged,  its  sublime 
instincts  realized,  and  its  unutterable  and  unquench- 
able longings  satisfied;  and  it  finds  this  in  the 
church.  The  soul  needs  also  a  sanctuary  where  it 
may  retreat  from  every  stormy  wind  that  blows  and 
from  every  rude  and  heart-lacerating  grief;  and,  as 
it  sits  under  the  droppings  of  the  sanctuary  with 
great  delight  and  hides  itself  there  under  the  sha- 
dow of  the  all-protecting  wings  until  eveiy  calamity 
is  overpassed,  it  finds  this  refuge  in  the  church. 
The  church  is  the  fold  where  the  "foot-sore  tra- 
veller," weary  and  heavy  laden,  finds  rest,  and  the 
social  spiritual  home — 

"  So  like  a  little  heaven  below" — 

where  the  sad  and  solitary  and  broken-hearted,  who 
go  mourning  amid  the  desert  crowds  of  cities,  find 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  19 


sympathy    and    solace    and    a    welcome    greeting 
among  tlie  brotherliood  of  Christ, — 

"  No  more  a  stranger  or  a  guest, 
But  like  a  child  at  home." 

Christianity  has  certainly  not  yet  developed  all  its 
energy  as  the  light,  the  leaven,  and  the  salt  of  the 
earth.  As  the  power  of  God  not  only  for  the  salva- 
tion but  also  for  the  regeneration  of  the  world,  its 
force  is  still  to  a  great  extent  latent,  because  un- 
applied. Like  some  mighty  engine  which  gives 
motion  to  a  thousand  wheels  for  the  perfection  of 
some  useful  products  of  manufacture,  but  which  is 
capable  of  accomplishing  indirectly  still  greater  re- 
sults, so  is  it  with  Christianity.  Directly  and  pri- 
marily, it  is  designed  to  impart  vitality  and  perma- 
nent activity  to  Christian  churches,  of  which  its 
TRUTH  is  both  the  pillar  and  the  ground.  To  these 
pertain  the  promises,  provisions,  ordinances,  and 
preaching  of  the  gospel, — the  grand  instrumentality 
for  the  world's  conversion  unto  God;  and  churches 
therefore  are  ordinarily  the  birthplace  of  souls  and 
the  wells  of  salvation. 

But,  in  addition  to  this  primary  and  organic  de- 
velopment, Christianity  is  capable  of,  and  is  designed 
to  accomplish,  manifold  beneficial  results.  It  does 
not  bring  forth  and  train  up  and  teach  all  things 
whatsoever  Christ  has  commanded,  to  its  children, 
that,  when  nurtured  in  the  admonition  of  the  Lord 


20  YOUNG   men's 


and  grown  to  the  stature  of  men  in  Christ  Jesus, 
they  may  keep  at  home  beside  their  mother's  lap, 
dandled  upon  the  knee  of  indulgence,  fondled  in 
the  bosom  of  her  soothing  affection,  feasted  on  the 
joy  her  promises  afford,  and  luxuriating  in  the 
beauties  of  holiness.  Oh  no  !  she  trains  their  hands 
to  war,  to  labour,  and  to  endure  hardness  as  good 
soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ.  Girding  up  their  loins  and 
pointing  to  the  hosts  assembled  for  battle — 

What  dread  spectators  watch  their  destined  way ! 
How  'mid  assembled  worlds  they  stand  alone ! 
"Come  on/^  she  cries;  "list  in  the  heavenly  war, 
With  shield  of  faith  and  with  the  Spirit's  sword, 
Strong  in  the  mail  of  God's  unfailing  word — 
The  Urim  and  the  Thummim  of  the  Lord." 

She  sends  them  also  into  her  vineyard  to  work. 
She  leads  them  forth  to  the  out-lying  field,  which  is 
the  world  3  and,  as  the  eagle  stirreth  up  her  nest  and 
sendeth  forth  her  new-fledged  young  that  they  may 
circle  with  her  in  her  heavenward  flight,  so  does  the 
church  send  forth  her  sons  into  the  field  of  duty  and 
of  conflict,  that  they  may  fight  manfully  the  good 
fight  of  faith,  work  the  work  of  God,  and  learn 

How  much  by  prayer  one  fervent  soul  may  throw 
Into  the  scale  where  kingdoms  now  are  weigh'd. 

It  is  therefore  the  very  object  of  the  education 
imparted  by  Christian  churches  to  make  their  children 
wise  to  win  souls  for  Christ ;  to  save  the  perishing 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  21 


from  death;  to  multiply  the  trophies  of  redeeming 
love;  to  bring  in  many  outcast  wanderers  to  their 
Father's  house;  to  scatter  wide  around  them  the 
seeds  of  life  immortal ;  and  thus  to  prove  that,  while 
her  end  is  salvation  and  her  destination  eternity, 
Christianity  is  the  life  and  power  of  all  charity, 
philanthropy,  patriotism,  morality,  order,  and  of  what- 
soever things  are  just,  true,  pure,  honest,  lovely,  and 
of  good  report, — if  there  be  any  virtue  and  if  there 
be  any  praise  among  men ;  to  prove  that  Christianity 
is,  in  short,  the  true  catholikon  for  rent  and  torn  hu- 
manity,— a  law  of  attraction  operating  in  the  very 
highest  region  of  humanity,  the  region  of  thought 
and  conviction, — and  "  a  prophecy  that  the  Babel- 
isms of  men  shall  yet  be  healed  by  the  consummated 
act  of  which  the  day  of  Pentecost  was  but  the  be- 
ginning and  the  pledge." 

To  this  invisible  and  silent  operation  of  Chris- 
tianity in  its  indirect  influences  and  beyond  its  eccle- 
siastical limits,  will  be  attributed  without  contro- 
versy the  origin  and  progress  of  modern  civilization ; 
the  triumph  of  law,  order,  and  liberty,  which  are 
its  natural  offspring;  the  sense  of  personal  re- 
sponsibility, and  its  collateral  rights;  the  elevation 
of  morals ;  the  power  of  conscience  in  creating  con- 
scientiousness, and,  therefore,  confidence;  and  that 
ever-widening  commerce  which  is  based  upon  the 
pre-existence  of  these  fruits  of  the  tree  of  life,  and 
which  is  so  opening  up  all  parts  of  the  world  rapidly 


22  YOUNG  men's 


and  so  indissolubly  binding  them  together  in  one 
vast  community, — 

Many,  yet  one,  in  union  manifold. 

To  the  Christian,  therefore,  the  world  is  a  field  of 
duty,  life  a  sacrifice  to  duty,  his  fellow-men  the 
objects  of  his  love  and  pity  which  duty  does  not 
less  require  than  acts  of  justice  and  of  honesty: — 

For  around,  in  silence  dread, 

All  unseen  above  his  head 

Like  an  amphitheatre, 

Stand  the  angelic  inmates  there, 

Watching  how  man  does  his  part. 

There  are  writ  the  deeds  of  men. 

With  a  diamond-pointed  pen, 

On  a  plate  of  adamant 

For  eternity  to  chant. 

Syllabled  in  courts  above, 

They  are  writ,  and  they  shall  last, 

Dipp'd  in  colours  of  the  heart 

That  none  from  his  own  doom  may  part. 

Such  is  the  educated,  intelligent,  heaven-directed 
Christian  : — 

Holiness  unto  the  Lord 

Marks  his  staflF,  his  scrip,  his  board. 

Harp  and  spade,  and  book  and  sword, — 

All  the  royal  priesthood  use. 

Faith  through  all  doth  worth  infuse; 

Giving  even  immortal  worth 

To  the  lowliest  tasks  of  earth. 


CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATIONS.  23 


So  that,  lit  by  holy  love, 
Lustrous  as  the  stars  above, 
Each  with  its  own  colour  dight 
Is  replete  with  living  light. 

Animated  by  sucli  a  spirit^  the  Christian  cannot 
live  alone,  or  for  himself  alone.  He  is  borne  to- 
wards heaven  on  the  wings  of  zeal.  His  very 
prayers  come  back  to  him  laden  with  thoughts  of 
love,  and  he  is  thus  led  to  associate  himself  with  all 
who,  like  him,  are  eager  to  devote  themselves  to  the 
zealous  prosecution  of  every  good  work. 

Christianity  therefore  provides  in  itself — in  the 
very  spirit  it  infuses  and  the  principle  of  association 
it  embodies — for  the  union  of  all  its  followers,  not 
only  in  churches,  but  in  all  things  practical,  evan- 
gelical, and  experimental,  wherein,  notwithstanding 
their  ecclesiastical  differences,  they  are  "agreed,  and 
in  advancing  which  they  are  able  to  walk  by  the 
same  rule,  to  mind  the  same  things,  and  to  be  zeal- 
ously affected,  striving  together  for  the  furtherance 
of  the  gospel,  and  provoking  one  another  to  love 
and  zeal  and  good  works." 

The  existence  of  various  churches  leads  to  mani- 
fold good  results,  and  is,  no  doubt,  an  intended  adap- 
tation to  the  present  weak  and  imperfect  condition 
of  even  the  holiest  Christians.  The  evils  incident  to 
such  different  churches  are,  however,  very  great, 
and  constitute  a  very  serious  hinderance  to  the  pro- 
gress of  the  truth.     It  may  therefore  be  well  ex- 


24  YOUNG  men's 


pected  that  some  provision  has  been  made  for  the 
accomplishment  of  the  incalculable  good,  and  for  the 
avoidance  of  the  serious  evils  of  so  many  separate 
tribes,  with  their  selfish  jealousies,  in  the  one  Israel 
of  God.  Now,  this,  we  think,  is  found  in  the  prin- 
ciple of  association  combining  together  Christians  of 
every  evangelical  name,  for  the  united  prosecution 
of  labours  of  love, — a  fact  powerful  enough  to 
answer  all  the  objections  of  captious  and  sneering 
infidelity, — the  spontaneous  avowal  that  all  the  dis- 
ciples of  the  Great  Teacher  are  servants  of  the  '^  one 
Lord,"  and  animated  by  "  one  Spirit." 

For  whai  else  did  the  divine  love  and  wisdom 
of  God  reveal  and  exemplify  this  powerful  prin- 
ciple ?  Not  surely  to  be  dormant.  Not  to  putrefy 
like  corrupted  air  imprisoned  in  some  pent-up  well, 
there  to  breed  the  morbific  elements  of  sectarian 
jealousy  and  bigotry,  of  malice,  hatred,  and  all  un- 
charitableness.  Not  to  be  caught  up  and  imbibed 
by  the  world  without  and  appropriated  to  its  own 
temporal  and  transient  interests.  Nor  was  this 
principle  of  association  revealed  that  in  the  hands 
of  God's  enemies  it  might  confederate  together  the 
oowers  of  earth  and  hell  against  the  church  and  her 
sacred  oracles  and  ordinances.  No  !  This  principle 
was  given,  that,  like  the  vital  air  we  breathe  and 
the  balmy  waters  by  which  we  exist,  it  might  find 
its  vitality,  power,  and  purity  preserved  and  multi- 
plied by  free  and  loving  expansion, — by  an  illimit- 


CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATIONS.  25 


able  diffusion  permeating   every  lane   and  byway, 
every  field  aiid  garden,  giving  and  receiving,  blessing 
and  being  blessed,  as  it  goes ; — and  that  it  might 
combine  together  in  one  atmosphere  of  holy  love, 
in  one  swelling  tide  of   Christian  activity,  all  the 
separate  particles  of  divine  life- 
Love  is  like  the  ocean, — 
Ever  fresh  and  strong; 
Birth  and  life  and  motion, 

Speed  and  strength  and  song, 
With  which,  the  world  surrounding, 
It  keeps  it  green  and  young. 

Yes  !  love  is  ever  flowing, 

Flowing  ever  down. 
And  through  all  lands  going 

Fi-om  the  heavenly  throne. 

What  a  Satanic  perversion  of  this  principle  of  as- 
sociation, then,  has  led  Christians  hitherto  to  run  down 
Christianity  into  exclusive  sects,  to  erect  around 
them  impassable  walls,  and  to  employ  so'much  of  their 
talent  and  ingenuity  in  perpetuating  old  rents  and 
in  multiplying  new  ones  ! 

Christians  have  too  long  and  vainly  endeavoured 
to  secure  perfect  unity  in  all  things  believed, — in  both 
the  credenda  and  the  agenda,  the  belief  2LU.di  the  prac- 
tice of  Christianity, — and  to  make  this  the  basis  of 
unity,  communion,  and  love.  It  is  now  time  to 
allow   Christian   love  to  exercise    its    irrepressible 

desire  to  embrace  as  brethren  in  Christ  Jesus  all 
3 


26  YOUNG    men's 


who  give  evidence  of  having  within  them  in  living 
efl&cacy  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  This  will  gene- 
rate not  an  ecclesiastical  union  merely,  but  what 
is  still  more  heavenly,  a  personal  and  divine  union, — 
personal  between  believer  and  believer  of  every 
name, — and  divine  between  all  believers  and  Christ 
their  Head.  This  also  will  originate  and  increase 
Christian  zeal.  For,  as  the  heat  of  the  earth  is  pro- 
duced not  so  much  by  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun 
shining  upon  it  or  from  its  relation  to  that  body,  as 
by  the  refraction  and  reflection  of  heat  imparted,  so 
it  is  not  merely  by  the  direct  influences  of  Christ 
upon  the  heart  that  Christian  zeal  is  enkindled,  but 
still  more  by  that  zeal  reflected  and  refracted  in 
the  atmosphere  of  love  by  Christ's  peculiar  people 
made  by  His  Spirit  zealous  for  good  works. 

Indeed,  analogy  may  lead  us  to  suggest — what  the 
word  of  God  authorizes  us  to  believe — that  this  wide 
sphere  of  Christian  development  is  essential  to  the 
order  and  harmony  of  churches  themselves.  There 
is  an  analogy  between  the  Christian  system  and  our 
planetary  system.  In  both  we  find  numerous  inde- 
pendent bodies,  separate  and  complete  in  their  own 
organization  and  revolving  upon  their  own  axes 
and  within  their  own  proper  sphere,  and,  by  the 
necessary  laws  of  their  planetary  or  ecclesiastical 
existence,  giving  light  within  that  sphere.  But  in 
both  also  we  are  led  to  the  contemplation,  as  neces- 
sary to  the  perfection  of  the  system,  of  a  still  wider 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  27 


sphere,  in  wliicli  all  these  revolving  bodies  are  at- 
tracted and  preserved  in  their  order  and  harmony, 
by  one  great  central  body  around  which  the^ 
move, — 

Forever  singing,  as  they  sliine, 
The  hand  that  made  us  is  divine. 

Glorious  and  sublime  conception!  Oh  the  depth 
and  height  of  the  wisdom  and  power  of  Chri^  the 
Sun  of  righteousness!  the  great  central  luminary 
of  the  spiritual  universe  !  who  binds  together  in  one 
divine  system  by  the  one  law  of  love,  all  his  churches 
and  all  his  children  on  earth  and  in  heaven  in 
time  and  throughout  eternity,  in  the  unity  of  the 
faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  and  of  the  love  of  the 
Son  of  God ! 

The  children  of  this  world  have  been  wiser  in  their 
generation.  They  have  employed  this  principle  of 
association  in  the  cause  of  political  reform,  of  scien- 
tific discovery,  of  national  regeneration,  and  of  infidel 
and  atheistic  revolution;  and  with  what  transcen- 
dent, irresistible,  and  invariable  results  !  And  why  ? 
Because  they  applied  it  to  some  end  to  be  gained, 
and  not  to  some  theory  or  doctrine  to  be  expounded ; 
to  some  work  to  be  performed  too  vast  for  any 
one  man  or  for  any  single  society  among  men  to 
achieve,  but  which,  by  a  division  of  labour,  and  a 
concentration  and  a  perseverance  by  successive  la- 
bourers through  successive  years,  might  certainly 
be  accomplished 


28  YOUNG  men's 


So  also  must  Christians  act.  Leaving  every  man 
to  associate  himself  with  the  church  of  his  conscien- 
tious preference,  and  as  his  primary  and  most  import- 
ant duty  to  consecrate  his  time,  influence,  and  means 
so  as  to  make  that  church  all  that  a  church  ought  to 
be, — this  principleof  association  calls  upon  Christians 
to  combine  together  in  Christian  institutions,  socie- 
ties, and  associations,  not  to  take  up  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity,  but,  on  the  already-established  basis  of 
these  doctrines,  to  take  up  and  accomplish  the  work 
of  Christianity,  the  great  practical  work  of  Christian 
charity, — the  carrying  of  the  gospel  to  every  man  and 
to  every  man's  home  and  business  and  bosom,  and, 
with  the  gospel,  together  with  that  peace  and  good- 
will, that  love  and  help  and  consolation,  which  are 
its  necessary  manifestations,  its  life-giving  fruits. 

This,  then,  is  the  field  opened  up  to  Christian 
young  men,  and  to  which  these  associations  lead 
them  forth.  The  great  idea  has  been  conceived. 
It  has  taken  root.  It  has  sprung  up  unheeded  and 
without  observation.  It  has  drunk  in  celestial  air. 
It  has  been  nourished  by  the  dews  of  prayer — 

Unseen,  unknown,  shrouded  with  many  a  care. 
And  scarce  discernible  to  fleshly  eye. 

But  it  has  shot  up  a  goodly  tree.  Its  branches  now 
extend  from  sea  to  sea  and  from  shore  to  shore. 
Its  leaves  are  already  for  the  healing  of  many 
nations } —  • 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  20 


And  soon,  released,  its  stature  fills  the  sky 
And  soars  the  child  of  immortality. 

In  these  associations  we  have  the  true  Evangelical 
Alliance, — an  alliance  which,  leaving  all  doctrinal, 
ecclesiastical,  and  political  questions,  consecrates 
itself  to  the  one  blessed  aim  of  combining,  elevating, 
and  sanctifying  young  men ; — for  the  one  great  end 
of  gathering  in  the  outcast,  of  being  a  friend  to  the 
friendless,  a  home  to  the  homeless,  and  a  blessing 
to  all. 

On  this  to  fix  the  heart  and  eyes 

Will  heal  the  sores  of  controversial  strife. 

Strengthen  our  wills,  our  motives  purify, 

Humble  our  hearts,  make  single-eyed  to  see 

And  single-hearted  to  embrace  the  truth, 

And  to  behold  the  pregnant  thunder-cloud 

Bound  with  the  rainbow  which  surrounds  the  Judge, 

Which  bids  God's  children  hasten  'neath  the  roof 

Of  God's  own  sheltering  house,  and  there  await 

His  coming  on  with  tender  offices, 

Each  emulous  his  brother  to  befriend. 

Each  to  forget  himself.     Such  have  no  eai 

For  controversial  triflings  and  debate, — 

Naught  that  responds  within  to  party  strife. 

To  Christ's  loved  church,  by  endless  discord  riven, 

Such  love  alone  her  union  can  restore. 

And  gain  the  blessings  to  that  union  given. 

THE   GLORY   OF    MAN,    AND    OF    YOUNG    MEN 
SPECIALLY. 

As  a  Christian  association,  therefore,  this 
society  presents  to  us  the  combination  of  wisdom, 


>0  YOUNG   men's 


power,  syinpatliy,  and  stability,  under  the  guidance 
of  heavenly  truth,  divine  principle,  and  God-like 
love,  for  the  holiest  ends. 

But  its  claims  to  our  grateful  consideration,  high 
approval;  hopeful  expectation,  and  liberal  assistance, 
are  enhanced  by  its  remaining  feature, — namely,  a 
Christian  Association  of  Young  Men. 

^'The  glory  of  young  men  is  their  strength.'' 
!Man,  in  every  stage  of  his  existence,  is  a  glorious 
being.     He  was  made  in  the  image  of  God. 

God  gave  to  him  to  live  'mong  living  men, 

And  set  eternity  around  his  birth, 

E'en  as  the  circling  sky  surrounds  the  earth. 

He  was  created  but  a  little  lower  than  the  angels. 
He  was  exalted  to  the  dignity  of  being  God's  re- 
presentative, interpreter,  and  governor  in  the  earth, 
— to  serve  him,  to  honour  him,  to  glorify  and  enjoy 
him,  here  and  in  heaven,  now,  henceforth,  and  for- 
ever. To  this  high  calling  man's  nature  was 
adapted.  In  this  man  found  his  happiness.  And  to 
this  inward  disposition  and  character,  and  this 
outward  activity  and  service,  the  gospel  is  designed 
to  restore  man. 

As  MAN  is  therefore  a  glorious  being,  so  every 
capacity  of  man  and  every  period  of  his  life  have 
their  peculiar  glory.  As  compared  with  other  ani- 
mals, man  cannot,  it  is  time,  glory  in  his  inherent 
physical  strength,  since  in  this  he  is  far  inferior. 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  88 


But,  in  the  comparison  of  man  with  man  in  the 
different  stages  of  life,  youth  is  characterized  by 
the  development  of  man's  greatest  strength,  energy, 
and  activity. 

The  glory  of  childhood  is  that  docility  by  which 
it  is  trained  and  matured  for  future  usefulness,  and 
that  artless  simplicity  and  conscious  weakness  which 
lead  it  to  seek  in  others  its  wisdom  and  its  strength. 

Within  the  arms  of  the  great  Lord  of  love, 

As  in  the  teacher's  seat,  thou  gentle  child  1 

We  see  thee,  all  our  wisdom  to  reprove, — 

That  we  may  learn  of  thee,  thou  wisest  styled  j 

Learn  virgin  innocence,  leai-n  mercy  mild, 

Unlearn  ambition,  unlearn  carefulness. 

Oh  life  where  state  of  angels  is  fulfiU'd, 

And  saints  who  little  have  and  need  still  less! 

A  state  which  nothing  hath,  yet  all  things  doth  possess ! 

The  HOARY  HEAD,  ou  the  other  hand,  is  a  crown 
of  glory  when  it  is  found  in  the  way  of  righteous- 
ness, not  weary  in  well-doing,  but  still  bringing 
forth  fruit  unto  God,  and,  by  its  well-stored  wisdom 
and  experience,  bearing  testimony  for  the  truth  and 
comfort  of  a  life  of  piety. 

And  who  is  yonder  man  ? 

Himself  a  fleeting  span. 
His  shadow  lengthening  as  the  sun  goes  down. 
While  growing  sorrow  marks  him  for  her  own ; 

But  o'er  his  head  a  golden  crown 

The  parting  sun  hath  thrown. 


50G  YOUNG   men's 

His  worldly  wealth  on  earth  forsaking, 
Wing'd  sides  ho  finds,  and  light-wing'd  feet, 
And  on  his  way  his  comrades  is  o'crtaking, 
While  Mercy  now  descends,  her  pilgrim  true  to  meet, 
And  lead  him,  hand  in  hand,  to  her  enduring  seat. 
Man  seems  to  climb  a  mountain's  side, 
And,  ever  as  he  mounts,  to  leave  behind 
Green  spots  and  flowers. 
And  shade  of  verdant  bowers. 

Bidding  adieu  to  golden  prime. 

He  flings  aside  to  envious  time 
The  richer  thoughts  that  were  to  hope  allied. 
From  barren  to  more  barren  still  to  climb. 
Then,  as  he  upward  mounts,  upon  the  wind 
No  more  he  hears  the  streamlet's  melodies. 
And  childhood's  freshness  on  his  spirit  dies. 
But,  now  that  he  hath  gain'd  the  height. 
He  seems  to  walk  upon  the  glorious  skies. 
The  sun  that  sets  upon  the  seas  beyond 
Elings  back  the  radiance  of  his  golden  wand, 
And  clothes  him  with  a  new,  celestial  light. 
Anon  he  seems  more  large  than  man's  estate, — 
An  angel  seen  on  heaven's  bright  bumish'd  gate. 

In  like  manner,  YOUTH  IS  GLORIOUS  when,  in  its 
dewy  freshness,  its  whole  energy  of  body,  soul,  and 
spirit  is  consecrated  to  God,  sanctified  by  his  truth, 
devoted  to  his  service,  bearing  the  heat  and  burden 
of  the  day,  and  thus  growing  up  into  the  stature  of 
perfect  men  in  Christ  Jesus. 

"  Light  are  their  steps  who  in  life's  earliest  dawn 
The  mountain-tops  of  heavenly  life  ascend, 
Brushing  the  dew-drops  from  the  spangled  lawn. 
Nor  over  from  the  straighter  path  descend. 
Fixing  their  eyes  upon  their  journey's  end. 


CHRISTIAN     ASSOCIATIONS.  33 


Ere  sin  has  wither'd  up  their  morning  bloom, 
While  streaks  of  purple  morn  their  cheeks  illume, 
And  on  the  head  still  sparkles  heavenly  dew, — 
To  see  that  dew  like  incense  rise  to  heaven, 
It  is  a  precious  sight,  which  angels  view 
In  trembling  joy  and  hope  ;  immortal  love 
Hangs  o'er  it,  watching  every  opening  hue. 
Plant,  then,  in  youth's  soft  heart,  the  immortal  shoots 
Of  heaven-born  virtue ;  it  shall  bear  thee  fruit 
And  bind  thy  locks  with  amaranthine  wreaths." 


GREAT    MEN    HAVE   PERFORMED   THEIR    GREAT 
ACTIONS    WHILE    YOUNG. 

The  strengtli  and  energy  of  youtli  have  been 
characteristic  of  the  greatest  warriors,  statesmen, 
orators,  musicians,  and  poets  of  the  world.  Few 
of  these  have  seen  old  age.  Genius  almost  invari- 
ably covers  itself  with  flowers  and  sheds  around  its 
fragrance  in  the  spring  and  summer  of  life,  though 
there  have  been  a  few  instances  in  which  it  has 
ripened  its  fruit  in  the  golden  harvest  of  a  bright 
autumnal  sky.  The  same  is  true  of  the  philan- 
thropists, the  benefactors,  the  self-sacrificing  mis- 
sionaries, the  Christian  merchants,  and  the  holy  and 
devoted  men  and  women  who,  in  every  age  and  in 
every  community,  have  wrought  righteousness,  been 
zealously  affected  in  every  good  cause,  shed  around 
them  the  radiance  of  a  holy  example,  scattered 
abroad  in  every  direction  the  seeds  of  piety,  lived 
in  the  affections  of  grateful  hearts,  and  rested  from 


34  YOUNG  men's 


their  labours  here  to  enjoy  the  recompense  of  great 

rpwnrri  in  hpflvp.n. 


reward  in  heaven 


Lovers  of  souls,  the  children  of  our  God ! 

Ye  are  the  generation  whom  the  skies, 

And  they  who  heaven's  immortal  floor  have  trod. 

Early  admit  into  their  sweet  society. 

Such  share  their  ministries  ;  such  angels  prize; 

With  such  God's  children  everywhere  rejoice, 

And  join  with  them  their  prayers  and  charities, 

Till  heaven  itself  shall  gladden  at  their  voice.* 


THE  STRENGTH  OF  YOUTH  A  SOLEMN  TRUST. 

The  strength  and  energy  of  youth  are  therefore 
talents  of  inestimable  worth,  because  they  consti- 
tute a  power  of  such  incalculable  force.  They  are 
gifts  of  God.  They  are  a  solemn  trust,  a  holy  pre- 
rogative, the  rule  and  measure  of  a  future  reckoning 
and  of  an  eternal  retribution. 

Neither  is  this  a  trust  for  life.  As  youth  is  the 
flower  of  life,  so  strength  is  the  bloom  and  fragrance 
of  the  flower,  soon,  like  it,  to  wither  and  decay.  The 
impassioned  energy  of  youth  ceases  with  it,  and 
leaves  behind  only  the  strength  of  habit,  of  will,  and 
of  experience ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  the  weakness 
of  ignorance,  the  bondage  of  a  depraved  heart,  a 
defiled  and  polluted  disposition,  and  a  seared  or 
vindictive  conscience.  ''  God  giveth  power  to  the 
faint ;  and  to  them  that  have  no  might  he  increaseth 

*  See  note  A. 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  35 


strength.  Even  the  youths  shall  faint  and  be  weaiy^ 
and  the  joung  men  shall  utterly  fall :  but  they  that 
wait  upon  the  Lord  shall  renew  their  strength ;  they 
shall  mount  up  with  wings  as  eagles;  they  shall  run, 
and  not  be  weary;  and  they  shall  walk,  and  not 
faint."  "  Rejoice,  0  young  man,  in  thy  youth ;  and 
let  thy  heart  cheer  thee  in  the  days  of  thy  youth, 
and  walk  in  the  ways  of  thine  heart,  and  in  the 
sight  of  thine  eyes :  but  know  thou,  that  for  all  these 
things  God  will  bring  thee  into  judgment."* 

The  strength  of  youth  may  be  prostituted  to  vice, 
exhausted  in  selfish  and  sensual  indulgence  or  in 
lazy  indolence  and  inactivity,  and,  by  hurrying  man 
to  an  early  grave  or  a  premature  old  age,  treasure 
up  wrath  against  the  day  of  wrath  and  righteous 
judgment  of  God,  who  will  recompense  every  man 
according  to  his  deeds  and  according  to  his  ability 
and  opportunity  to  know  his  duty, — tribulation  and 
anguish  upon  every  soul  of  man  that  has  done  evil 
and  that  has  not  done  good  when  it  was  in  the 
power  of  his  hand  to  do  it. 

"  Oh,  awful  hour  that  endeth  all  our  time  ! 
When  we  before  our  Judge  shall  trembling  stand 
Who  shall  disclose  the  heart's  deep  labyrinth, 
When  sins  of  night  shall  see  the  face  of  day, 
When  earth  and  heaven  as  witnesses  stand  by, 
And  faltering  tongues  to  gather'd  worlds  confess  ?" 

*  Isaiah  xl.  29-31 ;  Ecclesiastes  xi.  9. 


56  YOUNG    men's 


.Oil,  Iiow  sad  and  melancholy,  tlicn,  it  is  to  see 
young  men,  in  a  world 

"  Whcro  nothing  seems  unreal  there 
Save  what  workllings  hope  and  fear. 
While  o'er  a  gulf  they  fleeting  pass 
On  a  bridge  of  brittle  glass," — 

how  melancholy,  in  such  a  world  and  with  such  a 
fleeting  life,  to  see  young  men,  under  the  full  pres- 
sure of  all  those  energies  which  might  be  and 
ought  to  be  their  glory,  plunging  headlong  into  the 
very  depths  of  ungodliness,  worldliness,  and  vice, — 
of  drunkenness,  surfeiting,  and  uncleanness, — 
yielding  every  power  of  soul  and  body  as  in- 
struments of  unrighteousness  unto  sin, — and  thus 
laboriously  serving  that  master  whose  wages  is 
death — the  death  of  self-respect,  of  all  pure  and 
high  aspirations,  of  hope,  of  character,  of  strength 
itself,  and  of  all  well-grounded  expectation  of  salva- 
tion from  the  wrath  to  come. 

Dead  to  all  sense  of  shame,  breaking  loose  from 
the  innocence  of  their  childhood,  casting  off  the 
comely  habits  and  pious  practices  of  a  paternal 
home,  they  plunge  into  excess  of  riot;  and,  borne 
onward  by  the  impetus  they  have  acquired  in  the 
descent,  like  one  running  down  hill  who  cannot  stop 
although  he  would,  when  they  reach  the  mouth  of 
the  pit  they  are  swept  over  it  into  perdition.  Such 
young   men — very  significantly  called  fast — make 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS. 


fearful  progress,  waxing,  like  "seducers,"  "worse 
and  worse."  Their  night  grows  darker  and  darker; 
the  edge  of  conscience  duller  and  duller;  the  process 
of  petrifaction  in  their  heart  more  and  more  rapid 
till  it  acquires  the  hardness  of  stone ;  when,  wallowing 
in  the  mire  of  the  lowest  sensuality,  they  can  make 
even  a  boast  of  sins  from  which,  on  the  day  when 
they  left  their  father's  roof  with  his  blessing  on 
their  head  and  a  mother's  warm  tears  on  their 
cheek,  they  would  have  shrunk  with  feelings  of  indig- 
nant abhorrence,  exclaiming,  "Am  I  a  dog,  that  I 
should  do  such  things?" 

youthful  sins  manhood' s  sorrows  and 
death's  pangs. 

The  remark  is  often  made,  when  the  spectacle  of 
such  a  young  man  is  presented,  that  "  he  is  sowing  his 
wild  bats,"  that  after  a  time  he  will  come  to  himself 
and  reform,  and  that  he  may  even  yet  be  converted  and 
saved  and  become  perhaps  a  burning  and  shining  light 
in  the  Christian  church.  Most  dangerous  and  damn- 
able delusion  !  Be  it  far  from  thee,  0  young  man, 
0  young  Christian,  0  Christian  parent !  For  while 
it  is  true  that  the  natural  tendency  of  youth  is  to 
the  indulgence  of  unbridled  passion,  and  this  with 
less  care  about  concealment  than  is  felt  in  after- 
years,  and  while  it  is  further  true  that,  in  some 
instances  in  which  passion  has  been  thus  indulged 
4 


38  YOUNG  men's 


for  a  season,  divine  grace  has  been  mighty  enough 
to  subdue  that  passion,  and  convert  the  open  and 
hearty  servant  of  sin  into  the  open  and  hearty  servant 
of  Christ, — yet  to  say  that  the  indulgence  in  sin  of 
any  kind  either  renders  more  probable  the  conver- 
sion of  the  sinner,  or  in  any  way  fits  the  sinner  for 
conversion  or  for  usefulness  after  conversion,  (if  by 
mighty  grace  he  is  ever  converted,) — or  to  say  that 
sin  of  any  kind  can  be  indulged  in  at  any  period  of 
life,  without  imminent  danger, — is  not  more  at  vari- 
ance with  the  teachings  of  human  experience  than 
it  is  with  the  lessons  of  the  word  of  God. 

During  a  ministry  of  nearly  twenty  years,  says  a 
pastor,  I  have  seen  a  great  deal  of  ''  wild  oats"  sown; 
and  I  never  yet  have  seen  any  thing  but  "wild  oats'* 
rea'ped  from  "  wild  oats"  &own.  I  have  seen  many 
a  one  in  early  manhood  "  throwing  the  reins  upon 
the  neck  of  his  lusts,"  who,  ere  the  prime  of  man- 
hood was  passed,  had  become  an  outcast  from 
society  and  filled  a  dishonoured  grave.  And  the  more 
warm-hearted  and  generous  the  natural  disposition  of 
the  young  man  was,  the  more  rapidly  has  vice  done  its 
fearful  work,  and  the  more  terrible  the  wreck  it  has 
made.  I  have  seen  others  giving  way  for  a  time  to 
the  indulgence  of  passion,  who  afterwards  became  the 
hopeful  subjects  of  divine  gi'ace.  And  I  have  heard 
them,  as  they  have  smarted  under  the  consequences 
of  their  youthful  sins,  lament  their  course  in  early 
life,  in  language  like  that  of  Job — "  Our  bones  aro 


CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATIONS.  89 


full  of  the  sins  of  our  youth,  which  shall  lie  down 
with  us  in  the  dust.'' 

A  venerable  old  man,  an  elder  in  a  Presbyterian 
church,  was  once  surveying  a  tract  of  land,  as  an 
executor,  in  order  to  divide  the  estate.  He  and  his 
companions  reached  a  certain  cleared  lot  on  the 
mountain;  and,  turning  to  the  gentleman  with  him, 
he  said,  ''  I  never  see  this  lot  without  a  feeling  of 
shame."  ''  Why  so?"  asked  his  friend.  "  Because 
as  many  as  fifty  years  ago,  when  I  was  a  boy,  I 
came  with  some  other  boys  to  this  lot  one  night  and 
took  some  watermelons  without  asking  the  owner's 
leave !" 

This  aged  Christian  would  often  dwell  upon  the 
sins  of  his  youth  and  mourn  over  them. 

It  so  happened  one  evening  that  Uncle  H.  (says 
a  narrator  of  the  fact)  sat  by  the  old-fashioned  open 
fireplace,  in  which  a  cheerful  fire  was  burning.  He 
sat  as  if  lost  in  earnest  meditation,  and  occasionally  a 
sigh  escaped  him.  An  individual  present,  noticing 
this,  said,  abruptly,  "Well,  what  is  the  matter  now?" 
Uncle  H.  seemed  disinclined  to  answer  the  question; 
but,  on  being  urged,  replied,  "  I  would  rather  have 
kept  silent ;  but,  as  you  insist  on  knowing,  I  am 
thinking  about  the  sins  of  my  youth ;  and,  I  must 
say,  they  trouble  me  !" 

There  was  once  boarding  with  him  a  religious 
professor  who  took  diiferent  views  of  justification 
from  those  entertained  by  ''  Uncle  H."     This  man 


40  YOUNG   MEN  S 


seemed  to  consider  justification  as  nearly  synonymous 
with  forgetfulness  of  past  sins.  They  often  con- 
versed on  this  point,  the  one  asserting  that  when 
Christ  forgives  our  sins  we  ought  to  forget  them 
and  have  no  more  trouble  about  them,  and  that,  if  we 
do  not,  it  is  evident  that  they  are  not  forgiven; 
the  other  replying  that  David,  though  forgiven, 
said,  ''My  sin  is  ever  before  me,'^  and  that  Paul, 
though  forgiven,  spoke  with  grief  and  shame  about 
his  having  ''  persecuted  the  church  of  God." 

This  must  be  so.  It  is  the  law  of  nature.  It  is 
the  necessary  result  of  our  mental  and  moral  being. 
It  is  also  the  law  of  the  kingdom  of  grace.  As  a  man 
sows,  so  shall  he  reap.  As  a  man  sows,  and  what  a 
man  sows  in  the  spring-time  of  life,  he  must  reap  in 
a  multiplied  harvest  in  the  summer  of  manhood  and 
the  winter  of  old  age.  If  he  sows  wind,  he  must  then 
reap  whirlwind.  If  he  sows  to  the  flesh,  he  must 
reap  corruption.  If  he  sows  wild  oats,  he  must,  like 
the  prodigal,  vainly  try  to  fill  himself  with  the 
husks  which  the  swine  do  eat.  ''Lust,  when  it  is 
conceived,  bringeth  forth  sin ;  and  sin,  when  it  is 
finished,  bringeth  forth  death.''  "Thou  fool,  that 
which  thou  sowest  thou  sowest  not  that  which  shall 
be,''  but  what  shall  bear  multiplied  products,  and 
"  from  every  seed  its  own  body  and  its  own  fruits." 

"Who  sows  the  serpent's  teeth,  let  him  not  hope 
To  reap  a  joyous  harvest." 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  41 


"There  can  be  little  doubt  that  most  persons  settle 
the  question  of  their  eternal  destiny  while  young. 
This  is  the  time  of  roots  and  seeds,  the  time  of  foun- 
dations, the  time  of  fountains  and  of  laws,  the  time 
of  principles  and  prophecies,  that  are  to  be  de- 
veloped and  fulfilled  in  the  man  and  in  the  angel, 
good  or  bad.  This  is  the  time  of  quick  and  vivid 
sensibility  to  impressions  from  abroad,  whether  good 
or  evil;  the  imitative  time  of  our  being;  the  repro- 
ducing time  of  examples;  the  time  of  intense  feel- 
ing and  of  energy  and  impulse  in  following  the 
heart  and  in  carrying  out  its  pui-poses.'^ 

The  process  of  self-education,  as  Foster  says, 
is  then  going  on,  even  though  unobserved,  and  tend- 
ins:  fast  towards  the  ultimate  fixed  form  of  character. 

^'  One  season  cannot  be  changed  for  another,  the 
summer  for  the  spring,  nor  the  autumn  for  the 
summer.  We  go  on,  indeed,  sowing  seed  all  the 
way  through  life;  and  each  successive  period  of 
life  is  a  most  impressive  reality, — a  period  of  proba- 
tion and  of  seeds  for  the  next  period, — ^because  what 
we  were  and  what  we  did  yesterday  is  continually 
coming  out  in  consequences  to-day.  But  the  one 
grand  seed-period  of  our  being,  the  period  of  the 
oaks  that  build  the  ships  in  which  our  fortunes  are 
embarked  for  eternity,  the  period  of  all  the  com- 
manding fixtures  and  features  of  the  character,  is 
never  repeated,  and  is  ordinarily  early  in  life.     The 

roots  of  our  earliest   habits   twine  themselves  all 
4* 


42  YOUNG  men's 


about  our  immortality.  The  trunk  of  character, 
strengthened  by  such  roots,  is  immovable;  and  the 
branches  spread  themselves  out  a  mighty  shade  of 
foliage.  So  prodigiously,  intensely  energetic  is  the 
impressible  period  and  growing  power  of  our  being. 
And  it  depends  therefore  upon  what  we  meet  with 
.and  entertain  at  such  a  period,  whether  we  shall 
become  apostles  of  good  or  of  evil  in  our  fallen 
world,  because  it  meets  with  the  growing,  germinat- 
ing power,  the  enthusiastic,  imaginative,  impulsive 
tendency,  and  carries  the  mind  onward  to  results.''* 
How  awful,  then.  Christian  young  man,  is  the 
infatuation  of  young  men  around  you,  growing  up 
in  all  the  wildness  and  inflexibility  of  their  evil  and 
corrupt  natures,  and  filling  the  land  with  their  rank 
and  baleful  luxuriance,  their  poisonous  exhalations, 
and  their  soul-destroying  fruits  ! 

"  Oh,  what  a  wilderness  about  us  lies 
Of  spirits,  each  wrapp'd  round  in  fleshly  cell, 
Could  we  but  see  beyond  each  other's  eyes 
This  universe  of  souls  'rnong  which  we  dwell, 
Each  in  himself  a  world, — a  heaven  or  hell 
Therefore  it  is  of  life's  short  span 
So  often  written  in  the  sacred  page, 
Which,  pointing  immortality  to  man. 
Holds  up  in  mirror  life's  short  pilgrimage, 
In  every  form  which  may  the  soul  engage. 
And  then  each  talent  weighs  in  duty's  scale. 
Mysterious  thought  of  never-ending  age  ! 

*  From  Dr.  Cheever's  "  Voices  of  Nature." 


CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATIONS.  43 


At  sight  of  whicli  the  strongest  heart  should  pall, 

And  dread,  ere  heav'n  be  won,  lest  life  itself  should  fail. 

Each  hour  is  like  an  angel,  which,  with  wings. 

Conies  from  and  goes  to  heaven ;  yet  empty  ne'er 

Comes  or  returns,  but  some  occasion  brings, 

And  hastens  back  to  heaven,  the  tale  to  bear 

Of  evil,  or  fresh  store  to  treasure  there. 

Pity  looks  down  from  heaven's  o'erarching  roof, 

Awe-struck  to  see  how  swift  our  hour  is  sped, 

To  see  while  day  and  night  weave  the  thin  woof, 

Eternity  is  hanging  o'er  the  thread. 

And  then  that  hour  that  numbers  'mong  the  dead 

Numbers  us  'mong  those  that  die  no  more  : 

Time  marks  not  death  with  unperceived  tread 

Steal  on  behind ;  but,  while  he  numbers  o'er 

His  many  days  to  come,  death  shuts  the  eternal  door." 

THE     GLORY    OF     YOUTHFUL    PIETY    AND     YOUNG 
MEN   THE   STRENGTH   OF   EVERY   COMMUNITY. 

On  tlie  other  hand,  how  delightful  is  it  to  behold 
young  men,  inspired  with  the  divine  idea  of  associa- 
tion, united,  together  on  the  basis  of  love  to  Christ 
and  love  to  sinners,  sustained  by  the  principle  of 
faith  in  Christ,  obedience  to  him,  and  recognition 
of  the  common  salvation  and  the  common  brother- 
hood of  humanity ! 

"  "Who  can  discern  the  beauty  of  that  power, 
When  endless  life  within  the  soul  is  born  ! 
Dawns  on  the  soul  the  everlasting  morn  ! 
The  aspiration  of  its  lofty  aim 
Stilling  the  noise  of  passion  and  of  mirth, 
Set  on  her  heritage  of  endless  worth. 
And  her  immortal  birthright  bent  to  claim?" 


44  YOUNG  men's 


The  strengtli  and  power  of  any  community  is  in 
its  young  men.  For  weal  or  woe,  they  give  it  tone 
and  character,  and  life  and  energy.  They  will  also 
be  its  future  leaders.  Out  of  their  ranks  must 
come  forth  the  husbands,  the  fathers,  the  merchants, 
the  operatives,  the  municipal  fathers  and  legislators, 
the  pillars  both  of  the  state  and  of  the  church. 
The  very  being  and,  much  more,  the  well-being,  of 
this  as  of  every  other  community,  rests,  therefore, 
upon  the  opinions,  character,  and  habits  of  the  young 
men  whose  strength  is  now  their  glory  or  their 
shame. 

THE   PECULIAR   TEMPTATIONS   OP  YOUNG   MEN. 

And  hence,  of  all  other  classes,  our  young  men 
most  emphatically  stand  in  need  of  the  benefits  and 
blessings  of  Christian  association.  That  energy, 
strength,  and  boldness  which  constitute  their  glory  is 
at  the  same  time  the  source  of  their  greatest  danger. 
Their  pride,  passion,  and  love  of  independence,  like 
unbroken  steeds,  spurn  the  control  of  reason,  laugh 
at  experience,  and,  dreaming  of  no  sickness,  disease, 
or  death,  give  the  reins  to  passion,  rush  into  the 
very  whirlwind  of  temptation,  and  sport  merrily 
while  their  hand  is  upon  the  lion's  mane  and  their 
feet  upon  the  hole  of  the  serpent.  The  general 
arrangements  of  business,  its  ungodly  "hasting 
after"    riches,    its   utter   disregard  of  the   health, 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  45 


happiness,  and  morals  of  the  young  men  who  are 
its  instruments,  and  the  whole  nature  of  their  sur- 
rounding circumstances  and  conditions,  expose  our 
young  men  to  peculiar  and  almost  irresistible  temp- 
tations. 

The  perverted  spirit  of  our  free  institutions,  the 
want  of  consideration,  intellectual  pride,  immoral- 
ity, and  the  inevitable  tendency  of  spiritual  dark- 
ness to  shut  out  from  itself  the  light,  lead  many 
young  men  to  skepticism  in  one  or  other  of  its 
Protean  forms.  If  too  conscientious  and  enlight- 
ened to  fall  a  prey  to  this  snare  of  the  destroyer, 
the  same  causes  render  young  men  unwilling  to  sub- 
mit fully  to  the  gospel,  and  induce  them  to  take 
shelter  from  the  storm  and  tempest  of  conscience  in 
some  refuge  of  lies,  some  man-constructed  system 
of  doctrine  or  philosophy,  by  which  —  imagining 
they  must  think  for  themselves,  that  is,  hold  opinions 
different  from  those  around  them — they  are  easily 
beguiled.  "I  have  been,^^  said  such  a  one,  when 
dying,  "a,  most  wicked  and  incorrigible  opponent 
of  the  whole  Christian  system;  and  I  know  not  why 
I  was  so,  but  for  the  pride  of  opinion/' 

In  these  ways,  and  by  every  device,  Satan  blinds 
the  eyes  of  young  men,  closes  their  ears,  and  locks 
their  hearts,  so  that  they  may  permit  their  day  of 
grace  to  pass  away.  This  is  all  he  wants;  and  his 
end  is  gained,  whether  this  is  accomplished  by  vice, 
folly,  frivolity,  or  vain  philosophy,  falsely  so  called. 


46  YOUNG  men's 


^^The  young  Lord  Littleton  was  in  early  life  the 
subject  of  deep  impressions,  under  the  influence  of 
which,  he  informs  us,  he  retired  at  a  particular  time 
to  his  chamber  to  pray,  with  the  intention  of  com- 
mitting his  soul  to  God.  As  he  was  on  the  point 
of  kneeling  to  engage  in  prayer,  he  concluded  to 
turn  aside  and  close  his  window-shutter.  At  the 
window  he  saw  a  band  of  musicians  parading  the 
streets.  The  splendour  of  their  appearance  caught 
his  eye  -,  their  inspiring  notes  ravished  his  ear  ;  he 
rushed  from  his  apartment  to  the  street,  joined  in 
the  crowd,  banished  his  seriousness,  and  felt  the 
strivings  of  the  Spirit  7io  more."  This  was  all  that 
Satan  desired;  since  in  gaining  this  he  gained,  and 
Lord  Littleton  lost,  all.  If  the  fly  can  only  be  at- 
tracted by  its  glare  to  circle  round  the  flame  until, 
intoxicated,  it  falls  into  it,  its  wings  are  lost;  and,  if 
not  destroyed  at  once,  it  is  destroyed  inevitably. 
^'I  am  a  candidate  for  a  fortune,''  said  a  young  man 
recently  in  the  flush  of  health  and  the  ardour  of 
hopeful  prospects,  "  and  I  am  bound  to  die  rich !" 
Alas!  within  a  year  he  was  dead,  and  that  too 
before  he  was  rich  either  in  earthly  or  in  heavenly 
treasures. 

Ah !  thus  it  is  that,  while  Christ  and  his  bride  the 
church  stand  in  their  very  presence,  beckoning  them 
to  heaven  and  holding  forth  the  crown  of  an  immor- 
tal heaven  with  its  imperishable,  eternal  weight  of 
glory, — thoughtless,  and  blinded  youth  cast  their  all 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  47 


upon  a  moment's  die, — eternity,  the  prize  of  life, 
salvation  through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb; — and, 
Esau-like,  barter  every  thing  for  baubles,  ''  and  buy 
only  eternal  pains  V 

Of  all  others,  therefore,  young  men  stand  in  need 
of  association, — of  the  power  which  is  found  in  the 
example,  influence,  advice,  encouragement,  sym- 
pathy, companionship,  and  occupation  which  are  so 
powerfully  brought  to  bear  upon  them  by  associa- 
tion with  those  of  their  own  age  who  have  like  pas- 
sions, feelings,  and  temptations  with  themselves. 

YOUTH   THE   CRISIS   OF   MAN's   CHARACTER   AND 
DESTINY. 

Youth  is  the  crisis  of  a  man's  character, — the 
tide  of  life  which,  taken  at  its  height,  leads  on,  ac- 
cording to  the  power  that  moves  it,  to  a  life  of  glory 
and  of  goodness,  or  to  one  of  shame,  hard  impeni- 
tence, and  unbelief.  Of  the  crimes  of  Great  Bri- 
tain, one-fourth  are  ascribed  to  parties  under  twenty- 
one  years  of  age.  In  three  years,  eight  hundred  and 
thirty-three  offenders  under  that  age  were  committed 
to  the  Glasgow  prison. 

The  number  of  criminals  under  twenty  years  of 
age,  imprisoned  in  1815,  in  Britain,  was  6803,  or  1 
in  449  of  the  population  between  ten  and  twenty 
years  of  age;  while  in  1844  they  amounted  to 
11,348,  or  1  in  304  of  the  population  of  the  same 
age. 


48  YOUNG  men's 


In  London,  between  the  years  1844  and  1848, 
the  proportion  of  criminals  under  twenty  years  of 
age  to  the  population  of  the  metropolis  under  that 
age  increased  from  1  in  56  to  1  in  47. 

One  leading  question  of  the  present  age,  there- 
fore, is  to  know  how  to  deal  with  juvenile  delin- 
quents. 

THE    NUMBER   AND   IMPORTANCE    OF   YOUNG    MEN 
IN   ANY   COMMUNITY. 

Such  are  the  temptations  of  young  men,  and  such 
the  danger  of  their  being  lost  to  society,  and  of 
their  becoming  a  curse  instead  of  a  blessing. 

Now,  there  are  probably  not  fewer  than  between 
two  and  three  thousand  young  men  in  this  city. 
They  are  essential  to  its  very  existence.  There  is 
not  a  store  in  this  city  which  would  not  be  closed 
but  for  the  needful  services  of  its  young  men;  not 
a  counting-house,  not  a  workshop,  not  a  printing- 
press,  which  would  not  be  broken  up  if  deprived  of 
their  vigorous  and  energetic  young  men.  As  prin- 
cipals, as  bookkeepers,  as  clerks,  as  hands  and 
operatives,  men  still  endowed  with  the  energy,  en- 
terprise, and  strength  of  youth  sustain  and  carry  on 
the  various  busy  operations  of  this  and  of  every 
other  mercantile  community. 

The  character  of  any  city,  therefore, — of  its  busi- 
ness, its  manufactures  and  its  arts,  depends  on  the 
character  of  the  young  men. 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  49 


The  permanence,  prosperity,  popularity,  and  pro- 
fitable success  of  every  mercantile  concern  depend 
vitally  and  to  a  very  great  extent  upon  the  honesty, 
the  address,  the  energy  of  the  young  men,  upon 
the  hearty  zeal  with  which  they  enter  into  the  inte- 
rests of  their  employers,  and  upon  the  intelligence 
and  pleasing  and  obliging  manners  with  which  they 
conduct  themselves. 

And  hence  it  follows  that  the  future  progress  and 
elevation  of  this  and  of  any  city,  its  prosperous 
rivalry  with  other  cities  in  their  rapid  increase  and 
development,  depend  more  than  any  thing  else — ex- 
cept the  blessing  of  God,  which  alone  maketh  rich 
and  buildeth  up  any  community, — upon  the  wisdom, 
spirit,  enterprise,  large-hearted  liberality,  far-reach- 
ing sagacity,  and  therefore  that  fear  of  God  which  is 
the  source  of  these  virtues  and  of  all  true  greatness, 
— which  characterize  its  young  men. 

THE    IMPORTANCE   AND    CLAIMS    OF   YOUNG    MEN's 
CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATIONS. 

Such,  then,  being  the  relation  of  young  men  to 
every  community,  (not  now  to  refer  to  our  families, 
to  our  social  character,  and  to  our  churches,) — such 
being  their  supreme  importance  to  its  prosperity, — 
such  being  the  peculiar  circumstances  which  isolate 
young  men  as  a  class  from  those  around  them, — 
and    such    being     the    peculiar    temptations     by 


50  YOUNG   men's 


which  their  virtue  and  pious  purposes  are  assailed, — 
it  is  very  evident  that  an  association  of  young  men 
on  Christian  principles  is  of  unspeakable  importance. 
The  leaven  which  shall  purify  this  mass  must  be 
mingled  with  it.  The  light  that  shall  enlighten  it 
must  radiate  from  the  centre  outwards.  And  the 
all-pervading  and  elevating  power  of  Christian 
principle  must  be  brought  to  bear  upon  our  young 
men  through  the  sympathy  and  love  of  young  men 
like  themselves. 

the  advantages  they  secure  to  young  men. 

The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
presents,  therefore,  very  strong  attractions  to  every 
Christian  young  man  in  the  community.  Would 
you,  my  dear  young  friend,  strengthen  and  invigorate 
your  own  Christian  life; — would  you  enjoy  the  bless- 
edness of  doing  good, — good  to  those  most  needful 
of  it,  to  whom  you  have  peculiar  access,  over  whom 
you  have  peculiar  power,  and  in  benefiting  whom 
you  most  effectually  advance  the  interests  of  society  at 
large; — would  you  increase  your  own  happiness  and 
gather  round  you  all  the  delight  springing  from  sym- 
pathy and  fellowship  with  kindred  spirits; — would 
you  secure  to  yourself  friends,  acquaintances,  a  home 
where  you  can  cultivate  both  the  head  and  the 
heart? — then  become  an  active,  zealous,  and  warm- 
hearted member  of  some  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association. 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  51 


ALL   CHRISTIAN    YOUNG    MEN   OF   EVERY   DENOMI- 
NATION  MAY  UNITE. 

No  Christian  man — who  loves  the  gospel  more 
than  he  does  any  creed  of  human  origin,  and  Christ 
in  his  divine  glory  and  grace  and  infinite  all-suffi- 
ciency more  than  he  does  any  denomination  upon 
earth — need  hesitate  to  unite  in  such  association.  It 
is  simply,  sincerely,  and  purely  evangelical.  It  is 
not  polemical  nor  aggressive  in  any  sense  except  as 
against  sin.  It  is  neither  sectarian,  doctrinal,  nor 
ecclesiastical.  Its  basis  is  Christ  the  power  of  God 
and  the  wisdom  of  Grod  unto  salvation  to  every  one 
that  believeth.  Its  power  is  the  practical,  expe- 
rimental, saving,  and  sanctifying  knowledge  of  Christ 
formed  in  the  heart  the  hope  of  glory.  Its  instru- 
mentality is  the  gospel  as  the  only  regenerator  of 
man  individually  and  of  man  socially.  The  recep- 
tion of  that  gospel,  and  love  and  devotion  to  that 
Saviour,  are  the  only  qualifications  for  union  with 
Kuch  an  Association.  It  knows  no  church  in  parti- 
cular, except  so  far  as  membership  in  it  gives  evi- 
dence of  these  qualifications  being  possessed  by  its 
representatives.  It  looks  beyond  particular  churches 
to  the  church  visible, — the  holy  catholic  church 
throughout  the  world;  and  it  looks  upward  above  all 
rites  and  forms  and  peculiar  tenets,  as  held  and  loved 
and  deemed  vitally  important  upon  earth,  to  member- 
ship in  the  church  spiritual  and  invisible, — cousti- 


52  YOUNG  men's 


tuted  of  all  those  wlio  are  born  by  a  new  celestial 
birtb^  wbose  names  are  written  in  heaven,  whose 
aims  and  hopes  and  joys  are  one,  and  to  whom  it  is 
a  blessed  privilege  to  labour  together  with  Christ  in 
seeking  and  saving  the  lost. 

No  one,  therefore,  need  keep  back.  There  is  here 
no  compromise  of  doctrine,  order,  or  principle.  To 
associate  Christian  young  men;  to  strengthen  and 
confirm  their  faith  and  hope  and  zeal ;  to  provide 
comfortable  rooms  and  reading,  and  perhaps  physical 
refreshment*  for  young  men  generally  whether 
they  are  professing  Christians  or  not;  to  encourage 
their  friendship;  to  aid  and  assist  them  in  every 
way;  to  preserve  and  increase  in  them  all  good  pur- 
poses ;  to  deliver  them  from  temptation ;  to  present 
before  them  the  example  of  living,  loving,  and 
cheerful  piety,  and  thus  to  lead  them  by  the  cords 
of  a  man  to  the  Saviour  and  salvation;  to  be 
ready,  on  any  occasion  of  public  sickness  and  cala- 
mity or  of  private  and  personal  necessity,  to  lend 
their  services  to  the  cause  of  suffering  humanity; 
and  to  devise  and  prosecute  labours  of  Christian 
love  among  the  young,  the  poor,  and  the  destitute : — 
this  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  end  contem- 
plated by  such  an  association. 

Young  Men's  Christian  Associations,  therefore, 
have  powerful  and  undisputed  claims  to  the  appro- 

*  To  the  extent  of  tea,  coCec,  butter  and  bread,  as  in  London. 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  53 


bation^  encouragement,  sympathy,  and  assistance  of 
every  member  of  the  community;  of  every  one  to 
whom  the  character  of  our  future  husbands,  fathers, 
and  rulers  is  dear;  especially  of  every  man  of  busi- 
ness ;  and  more  emphatically  still  of  every  one  who 
names  the  name  of  Christ.* 


■*  In  this  connection  I  ■would  give  "svhat  prominence  and 
permanence  I  may  to  the  following  suggestion  relative  to  city 
clerks  and  young  men  employed  in  similar  ways.  It  is  from 
the  Presbyterian : — 

"Messrs,  Editors: — A  young  gentleman,  my  relative,  a 
clerk  in  New  York,  lately  paid  me  a  visit,  and,  among  other 
matters,  he  informed  me  that  he  did  not  go  statedly  to  church 
on  the  Sabbath,  because  he  had  no  pew  or  seat,  and  was  wholly 
unable  from  his  little  salary  to  rent  one.  He  said,  also,  that 
very  many  clerks  spent  the  whole  Sabbath  at  home,  and  not  a 
few  of  them  in  utter  idleness  and  folly ;  that  they  could  not 
afford  to  pay  for  seats,  and,  being  very  often  *  looked'  out  of 
pews,  and  not  rarely  turned  out  by  the  sextons  and  others, 
they  had  become  bitter  in  their  feelings  against  religious 
people,  and  wholly  infidel  in  their  sentiments. 

"I  cannot  now  write  any  thing  elaborate  on  this  matter,  but 
would  respectfully  suggest  whether  our  religious  and  moral 
merchants  cannot  devise  a  plan  of  renting  seats  or  pews,  and 
in  pleasant  parts  of  the  churches,  for  their  clerks  and  appren- 
tices, requiring  all  such  to  attend  worship  on  the  Sabbath,  and 
refusing  to  employ  any  who  will  not  agree  to  such  an  arrange- 
ment." 

"The  foregoing  is  from  a  respected  clerical  brother,  who 
states  no  imaginary  case ;  nay,  we^have  reason  to  apprehend 
it  is  but  one  of  many  similar  cases.  In  our  large  cities  there 
are  thousands  of  apprentices  and  clerks  who,  from  straitened 


54  YOUNG  men's 


WHY   THESE   ASSOCIATIONS   REQUIRE   LIBERAL 
ASSISTANCE   AND   LARGE   RESOURCES. 

It  is  therefore  very  evident  that  Young  Men's 
Christian  Associations  can  only  fully  succeed  by  libe- 
ral help,  as  well  as  by  the  general  sympathy  and 
fervent  prayers  of  the  community  at  large. 

Every  Association   ought   to  have  a  very  com- 

means  and  want  of  friendly  encouragement,  have  no  connec- 
tion with  our  churches.  They  are  not  only  unable,  however 
good  their  will  might  be,  to  purchase  or  to  rent  pews,  but, 
feeling  that  a  constant  attendance  at  any  place  of  worship 
would  be  regarded  as  an  intrusion,  they  stay  away,  and  be- 
come utterly  indifferent  to  religion,  or  positively  hostile  to  it, 
because  its  jirivileges  can  alone  be  purchased  with  money, 
which  they  cannot  command.  It  is  well  worthy  of  considera- 
tion whether  there  is  not  a  radical  defect  in  the  system  which 
is  now  pursued,  which,  to  so  great  an  extent,  excludes  the 
worthy  poor  from  our  sanctuaries.  Why  should  those  who 
happen  to  have  money  be  a  privileged  class,  driving  back  into 
corners  and  galleries  those  in  all  moral  and  religious  respects 
their  superiors?  And  if  this  distinction  cannot  well  be  over- 
looked, why,  at  least,  should  not  all  our  churches  have  inter- 
spersed, in  the  various  aisles,  pews  well  furnished  for  strangers, 
where  they  could  feel  as  if  they  were  not  intruders?  And 
why,  as  our  correspondent  suggests,  should  not  employers  rent 
pews  for  their  clerks  and  apprentices,  which  would  be  amply 
repaid  by  the  improved  morals  of  these  subordinates?  Some 
remedy  should  be  found  for  an  evil  which  actually  exists. 
Many  young  men  who  will  become  a  disgrace  to  society  by 
their  vices  might  thus  be  rescued  to  be  the  future  support^! 
and  ornaments  of  the  church. — Eds.  Pres." 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  55 


fortable,  spacious,  well-aired  and  well-situated  house, 
— A  HOME.  This  building  should  be  so  arranged  as 
to  provide  a  convenient  reading-room,  well  supplied 
with  papers  and  one  or  more  periodicals ; — a  sitting- 
room  commodiously  furnished  and  suitably  aired 
and  warmed; — a  library  supplied  with  fresh,  attrac- 
tive, and  profitable  books ; — and  a  hall  for  social 
meetings,  private  lectures,  essays  and  debates,  Bible- 
classes,  and  for  whatever  other  exercises  may  bo 
suggested  by  a  wise  experience. 

Every  Association  should  have  the  means  also  of 
providing  lectures  from  distinguished  men  in  all  parts 
of  our  country,  and  of  publishing  and  circulating 
such  lectures,  addresses,  or  tracts  as  would  be  found 
useful  to  young  men. 

There  is  thus  a  necessity  for  means  far  beyond 
those  hitherto  provided,  both  for  making  such  asso- 
ciations what  they  have  not  yet  been,  and  for  open- 
ing up  to  them  ways  of  usefulness  and  sources  of 
attraction  not  yet  contemplated. 

AN   APPEAL   TO    MERCHANTS   AND    CITIZENS. 

I  appeal,  then,  on  behalf  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  among  you,  to  every  merchant 
and  man  of  business  in  the  community.  Here  is  a 
way  in  which  you  may  greatly  benefit  the  young 
men  of  your  adopted  and  cherished  city ; — at  once 
please  and  profit  them;  encourage  them  to  be  and 


5G  YOUNG  men's 


to  do  good  and  to  escliew  evil ;  preserve  and  purify 
tliem ;  endear  them  to  you,  to  each  other,  to  their 
friends,  families,  and  churches;  stimulate  them  to 
intellectual  and  moral  excellence,  and  to  energy, 
perseverance,  honesty,  and  honour;  render  them 
better  men,  better  clerks,  better  salesmen,  better 
cashiers,  better  agents,  better  creditors,  and  better 
merchants,  better  every  way,  whether  as  friends 
of  your  family,  suitors  to  your  daughters,  husbands 
to  your  loved  and  cherished  ones,  fathers  of  your 
families,  officers  in  your  banks,  directors  in  your 
railroad-companies,  aldermen  in  your  Council,  and 
officers  in  your  churches. 

Would  it  then  be  too  much  to  ask  every  merchant, 
every  house  of  business,  every  man  to  whom  the 
services  and  character  of  young  men  are  important, 
if  not  every  family  and  every  Christian,  to  make  an 
annual  contribution  to  this  association?  In  what 
other  way  could  you  do  so  much  to  advance  your 
own  interests  as  by  encouraging  young  men  to  unite 
together  in  zealous  co-operation  for  their  own  im- 
provement ; — by  providing  them  with  ample  means 
for  attracting  others  to  their  rooms,  their  meetings, 
their  lectures,  and  their  various  churches; — by 
banding  together  those  who,  with  energy,  should 
also  have  the  disposition  to  be  zealously  affected  in 
every  good  work  by  which  the  health,  happiness, 
and  moral  and  spiritual  improvement  of  the  com- 
munity may  be  promoted ; — by  thus  elevating  the 


CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATIONS.  57 


standard  of  character  attainable  and  maintainable  by 
young  men ; — by  providing  an  increasing  body  of 
young  nieu  in  whose  honour,  honesty,  and  energy, 
if  not  also  in  their  piety,  the  community  might 
repose  confidence  in  any  position  of  trustworthiness 
and  zeal, — by  thus  rendering  vice  more  vicious, 
immorality  more  degrading,  gambling,  drunkenness, 
extravagance  and  dishonesty  in  every  form  more 
disgraceful, — by  demonstrating  that  true  religion  is 
identified  with  all  that  is  honourable,  manly,  and 
noble  in  character,  and  that  it  is  promotive  of  the  high- 
est interests  and  happiness  of  the  life  that  now  is  as 
well  as  of  that  which  is  to  come, — and  that,  in  the 
language  of  an  ancient  proverb,  there  is  a  shame 
(the  shame  of  being  religious)  which  is  sin,  and  truly 
shameful,  whereas  there  is  a  shame  (the  shame  of 
being  sinful,  irreligious,  and  cowardly  and  inactive 
in  the  cause  of  God)  which  is  life  and  glory; — that 
voluntarily  to  eschew  evil  and  avoid  it,  to  choose 
good  and  pursue  it,  to  make  good  our  object  and  our 
end,  and  to  live  for  others  at  the  sacrifice  of  self  and 
for  the  love  of  Christ,  is  the  very  essence  of  heroism ; 
and  that  he  who  by  shining  acts  marks  out  his  as- 
cending way  is  in  the  path  of  glory  shining  more 
and  more  unto  the  perfect  day, — 

Still  nearer  heaven,  still  more  and  more  divine 
Her  mansions,  as  he  nears  the  eternal  shore. 

Were  our  leading  men  of  business  to  set  an  ex- 


58  YOUNG  men's 


ample  in  this  matter;  allow  to  their  young  men 
their  evenings  for  bodily  recreation,  and  for  mental, 
moral,  and  spiritual  improvement;  and  encourage 
their  attendance  at  the  rooms  and  meetings  and 
social  unions  of  these  Associations ;  what  glorious  re- 
sults might  we  not  look  for  in  the  future  character 
and  prosperity  of  our  city,  our  families,  and  our 
churches  ! 

WHY  ALL  CHRISTIANS,  AND  YOUNG  MEN  SPECIALLY, 
REQUIRE   ASSOCIATION. 

But,  whatever  may  be  the  course  pursued  by 
others,  let  me  encourage  you,  my  young  friends, — 
and  all  you  who  have  strength  and  energy  and  spirit 
enough  and  love  enough  to  Christ  and  to  the  souls 
of  young  men  to  unite  with  them  in  doing  good, — •* 
to  avail  yourselves  of  the  advantages  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association. 

It  is,  as  I  have  shown,  in  its  nature,  principle, 
object,  and  instrumentality.  Christian, — gene- 
rated, inspirited,  and  sustained  by  the  divine  life  of 
Christianity.  That  life  quickens  in  individuals  the 
sense  of  responsibility,  gratitude,  and  love  to  God  and 
love  to  souls  perishing  around  them.  But  it  also 
enlightens  and  enlivens  man's  social  nature,  and 
leads  him  to  seek  encouragement,  help,  and  strength 
in  those  who,  like  himself,  are  quickened  and  made 
new  creatures  in  Christ  Jesus.     This  is  the  instinct 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  59 


and  security  of  tlie  ChristiaCj  wliose  life  is  now 
a  warfare  against  sin  within  and  temptation 
without. 

And  in  the  very  woods  around  us  may  we  not  behold 
a  lesson  on  the  necessity  of  this  union  and  co-opera- 
tion ?  '  The  branch  cannot  but  wither  that  is  cut  from 
the  parent  vine.'  The  leaf  depends  for  life  upon  its 
protecting  stem.  The  young  and  tender  and  even 
the  hardy  trees  find  protection  from  the  stormy  blast 
and  the  biting  frost  in  their  congregated  union. 
And  the  elements  that  are  needed  to  cherish  life  lu 
one  tree  are  provided  by  another,  so  that  they  minis- 
ter to  each  other's  comfort,  sustenance,  and  life. 
And  wouldst  thou,  0  Christian,  be  a  dweller  in  the 
woods  of  human  life, — whether  you  stand  in  the 
^crowded  mart  of  commerce,  in  the  shady  grove  of 
domestic  and  social  life,  or  among  the  cedars  of  Le- 
banon, the  garden  of  the  Lord  where  trees  of  right- 
eousness are  planted  by  the  rivers  of  living  water, — 
and  yet  think  to  dwell  alone  in  selfish  independence? 
'^Behold,  the  beasts  shall  hurt  thee,  weak,  naked, 
houseless  outcast.  Disease  and  death  shall  track  thee 
out  as  bloodhounds  in  the  wilderness."  Or,  if  thou 
standest,  thou  shalt  be  found  a  poor,  weak,  and  broken 
reed,  shaken  by  every  wind  and  bared  by  every 
rude  blast.  Thou  hast  a  social  spirit,  0,  man. 
Alone,  thou  dreadest  and  wantest  all  things.  Thy 
strength  and  comfort  are  laid  up  for  thee  in  the 
deep  well  of  humanity.     Bless  God,  therefore,  who 


60  YOUNG   men's 


has  ordained  for  you  the  ties  of  family,  of  kindred, 
of  country,  and,  above  all,  of  Christian  fellowship; 
and  who  has  thus  multiplied  your  resources,  out  of 
weakness  has  made  you  strong,  and  supplied  all 
your  need  from  the  storehouse  of  sympathy  and 
friendship  and  the  sweet  communion  of  saints. 

Christian  fellowship  is  therefore  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  Christian  life,  comfort,  and  growth.  We  are 
indeed  dependent  creatures.  We  cannot  exist  alone. 
We  live  in  each  other's  life,  and  are  moulded  by  each 
other's  character,  opinions,  habits,  and  disposition. 
Sympathy  creates  a  moral  atmosphere  through  which 
we  are  assimilated  and  fashioned  by  those  associated 
with  us.  So  God  has  made  us.  So  experience 
teaches  us,  for  a  man  is  known  by  his  company. 
And  so  Grod  instructs  us,  for  ^'evil  communicatior^ 
corrupts  good  manners,  while  he  that  walketh  with 
the  wise  shall  be  wise.'' 

The  reason  is  very  obvious.  We  are  dependent 
on  the  good  will  and  good  opinion  of  those  asso- 
ciated with  us.  How — asks  the  divine  philosophy 
— can  two  ♦  or  more  persons  walk  together  in  the 
bonds  of  intimate  and  familiar  acquaintance  unless 
they  are  agreed?  There  will  of  necessity  be  con- 
stant differences,  jarring,  and  ill  feeling.  To  avoid 
this,  to  be  at  peace,  to  walk  and  work  and  will  and 
enjoy  together,  we  feel  constrained  to  conform  our- 
selves to  those  with  whom  we  wish  to  associate  as 
intimate  companions.     There  is  a  mutual  and  grow- 


CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATIONS.  61 


ing   assimilation,  first  by   the    avoiding,  and    then 
by  the  abandoning,  of  all  points  of  difference. 

Example,  too,  is  all-powerful.  It  exhibits  the 
thing  done.  It  makes  manifest  its  reality  and  its 
practicability.  If  evil,  example  seems  to  guarantee 
safety,  satisfaction,  the  good-will  of  those  who  assume 
to  be  manly,  independent,  and  above  the  dictation 
of  God  or  man.  If  good,  examj^le  on  the  other  hand 
commands  our  homage,  condemns  our  low,  sensual, 
and  irrational  life,  and  gives  us  a  living  proof  that 
true  piety  is  the  only  source  of  true  dignity,  honour, 
happiness,  and  peace.  And  whereas  an  evil  example 
is  congenial  to  our  naturally-evil  heart  of  unbelief, 
and  is  commended  to  us  by  all  the  witchery  and 
devices  of  the  Evil  One,  on  the  other  hand  conscience, 
experience,  observation,  the  Bible,  and  the  providence 
of  Grod, — God  himself,  good  angels,  good  men,  and 
good  women  in  an  eminent  degree, — conspire  with 
good  example  in  making  it  powerful  to  good  im- 
pressions and  to  holy  and  happy  results. 

ASSOCIATION    ONLY  POWERFUL  WHEN  VOLUNTARY. 

It  is,  however,  very  important  for  me  to  observe, 
and  for  you  to  remember,  that  the  power  of  associa- 
tion lies  chiefly  in  its  being  voluntarily  sought  and 
willingly  reciprocated.  The  association  even  of  the 
wicked,  the  profane,  the  drunken,  the  irreligious, 
and  the  scoffer,  when  it  is  only  endured  because  of 
che  necessity  of  circumstances, — as,  for  instance,  in 


62  YOUNG  men's 


tlie  prosecution  of  business,  in  the  case  of  impenitent 
parents,  husband,  wife,  family,  or  school-fellows, — 
may  even  serve  to  awaken  disgust;  to  unveil  the 
heinousness,  the  meanness,  and  the  vulgarity  of  sin; 
to  create  aversion  and  loathing;  to  arouse  our  spirit 
of  independence;  and  to  generate  principles  of  virtue 
and  habits  of  piety  : — 

Gathering  strength  and  beauty  from  the  storm, 
The  unyielding  oak  grows  to  majestic  form, 
Strengthening  its  root  deep  hidden  from  the  view, 
Feeding  on  air,  and  di-inking  heavenly  dew. 
Thus  habits  mould  the  soul  to  be  a  place 
Wherein  may  dwell  forms  of  immortal  grace. 
While  thoughts  and  tempers  in  the  spirit's  shrine 
Grow  into  shape  and  take  the  form  divine, 
Fed'by  the  life  of  the  celestial  tree, 
And  drinking  heaven, — elastic,  stainless,  free. 

Thus  were  Moses  and  Daniel  prepared  by  God 
for  the  bravest  services  in  his  cause  far  from  the 
pious  homes  of  Israel.  They  grew  in  saintship  amid 
the  impurities  and  effeminacy  of  a  heathen  palace. 
Josiah  also  took  root  and  blossomed  into  an  early 
and  fragrant  piety  amid  all  the  blood  and  filth  and 
pollution  of  the  house  of  his  father  Ammon  and  his 
grandfather  Manasseh.  ^^I  have  never  doubted," 
said  Newton,  '^that  God  could  convert  the  heathen, 
since  he  converted  me.'' 

It  is  only,  therefore,  when  we  choose  the  sinner's 
company,  walk  willingly  in  the  counsel  of  the  un- 
godly, stand  in  the  way  of  sinners,  and  sit  in  the  seat 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  63 


of  the  scornfulj  that  their  character  and  curse  become 
inevitably  ours. 

But  this  is  equally  true  of  the  example  and  asso- 
ciation of  the  pious  and  the  good.  We  may  enjoy 
this  inestimable  blessing  in  the  person  of  our 
parents,  family,  and  friends, — ima  husband,  or  a  wife, 
or  a  child,  or  an  employer,  or  a  business-companion. 
But  if  we  do  not  appreciate  it, — if  it  is  not  really  and 
voluntarily  and  lovingly  improved, — it  not  only  does 
us  no  good,  but  oftentimes  is  perverted  into  a  curse. 
Our  pride  and  vanity  and  self-will  and  contrary  dis- 
positions and  desires  are  offended;  and  so  sin,  taking 
advantage  of  us,  works  in  us  hatred  and  enmity  and 
unbelief  and  hardness  and  impenitency  of  heart. 

The  power  of  association  lies,  therefore,  in  its 
being  voluntarily  sought,  and  in  our  thus  putting 
into  the  hands  of  others  the  key  to  our  hearts  and 
submitting  them  to  the  plastic  power  of  example 
and  companionship.  And  when  therefore  young 
persons  voluntarily  turn  away  from  any  willing  inti- 
macy and  heart-communion  with  the  vile  and  un- 
godly, and  associate  themselves  with  those  ta  whom* 
Christianity  is  truth ;  Christ  the  perfection  of  glory 
as  a  model  of  character ;  piety  the  highest  style  of 
man ;  the  service  of  Cod  perfect  freedom ;  and  god- 
liness the  chiefest  joy; — when,  I  say,  young  men  or 
women  thus  voluntarily  join  themselves  together, 
they  give  to  association  all  its  mighty  power  to 
mould    and    fashion   the   character   and   life   into 


64  YOUNG  men's 


conformity  with  the  true^  the  beautiful,  and   the 
good. 

How  pleasant,  therefore,  and  how  good  a  thing,  it 
is  to  see  the  young  men  of  our  different  churches, 
and  young  men  not  yet  members  of  any  church,  as- 
sociated together  in* these  societies !  May  you  dwell 
together  in  unity  amid  the  green  pastures  and  the 
living  waters  of  the  common  salvation,  no  root  of 
bitterness  springing  up  to  trouble  you ; — the  herds- 
men of  Lot  having  no  contention  with  those  of 
Abraham;  Ephraim  not  vexing  Judah  nor  Judah 
Ephraim ;  and  the  only  strife  being  to  provoke  one 
another  to  love  and  to  zeal  in  every  good  word  and 
work  ! 

CHRISTIAN  YOUNG    MEN    URGED    BY    GRATITUDE  TO 
PIETY,  ZEAL,  AND  DEVOTION. 

And  as  Christ's  love  alone  can  unite  his  children, 
— as  Christ's  Spirit  alone  can  "  pour  into  our  hearts 
that  most  excellent  gift  of  charity,  the  very  bond  of 
peace  and  of  all  virtues,  without  which  we  are 
nothing  worth,  and  without  which  whosoever  liveth 
is  counted  dead  before  God,'' — let  a  sense  of  your 
own  infinite  indebtedness  to  Christ's  mercy  keep 
you  ever  near  to  his  throne  of  grace,  that  he  may 
ever  keep  you  near  to  himself,  and  shed  abroad  his 
own  love  and  the  love  of  the  Spirit,  and  all  the 
fruits  of  the  Spirit,  in  your  heart. 

When  you  look  back  to  the  hole  of  the  pit  from 


CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATIONS.  65 


wliich  you  were  liewecl  out,  and  consider  how  after 
being  made  a  living  stone  you  were  built  by  tlie 
finger  of  Grod  into  that  noiseless  temple  which  is  not 
made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens; — when 
you  call  to  mind  how,*  amid  the  fretful  circumstance 
of  passing  time,  weary  and  heavy-laden  and  tossed 
about  by  every  vain  distracting  care,  Christ  called 
you  by  his  still  small  voice  into  a  mountain  apart, 
and  there  amid  the  unearthly  calm  of  his  own 
blessed  presence  spake  peace  and  rest  to  your 
troubled  soul; — when  you  remember  how,  while  you 
lay  in  your  blood,  polluted,  an  outcast  foundling, 
abandoned  by  all  earthly  pity, — 

He  bathed  thee  erst  in  life's  eternal  fount, 
And  took  thee  through  the  gate  of  his  own  grave 

Unto  the  haunts  of  the  celestial  mount, 
With  dews  of  life  thy  dying  soul  to  lave ; — 

when,  I  say,  you  think  upon  these  things,  you  will 
be  ready  to  exclaim — 

Ye  shining  ones  that  walk  on  heaven's  high  wall. 
Look  down ;  behold  me  from  your  heights  around ; 
Come,  see  and  hear,  bear  witness  to  my  call ! 
What  miracle  of  mercy  have  ye  found 
Equal  to  mine  ? — With  sins  encompass'd  round, 
A  lonely  exile  in  the  vale  of  tears, 
One  struggling  'mid  the  rocks,  his  comrades  drowned, 
An  unarm'd  one  travelling  'mid  hostile  spears. 
With  such  an  one  to  walk  the  Almighty  Lord  appears. 
Me  hath  he  called  to  love  him;  me  hath  he  deign'd 
To  call  his  child ;  for  me  his  life-blood  pour'd  ; 
And  when  I  turn  from  him,  then  he  is  pain'd. 
6* 


66  YOUNG  men's 


To  all  things  else  his  all-constraining  word 

Sets  bounds,  and  o'er  them  throws  his  holding  cord 

But  to  our  love :  He  asks  our  being  whole. 

And  who  unto  the  soul  can  bounds  afford  ? 

He  who  can  all  the  infinite  control 

Alone  can  meet  her  love,  alone  can  fill  the  soul. 

I  ask  not  wealth  ;  I  ask  not  length  of  days, 

Nor  joys  which  home  and  rural  sights  bestow, 

Nor  honour  among  men,  nor  poets'  praise, 

Nor  friendship,  nor  the  light  of  love  to  know, 

Which  with  its  own  warm  sun  bathes  all  below ; 

Nor  that  the  seed  I  sow  should  harvest  prove ; 

I  ask  not  health,  nor  spirit's  gladdening  flow, 

But  an  assured  pledge  of  rest  above, — 

A  heart  to  feel  and  recompense  Thy  love 

By  loving  Thee  all  earthly  things  above. 

THE  POWER  OF  ASSOCIATION  EXERCISED  BY  BOOKS, 
ETC.  AS  MUCH  AS  BY  PERSONS. 

Let  me,  before  passing  from  this  point,  remind 
you,  my  young  friends,  that  the  power  of  association 
is,  to  a  very  great  extent,  exercised  by  the  dead 
as  well  as  by  the  living;  by  the  absent  as  well  as 
by  the  present;  by  those  you  have  never  seen  as 
well  as  by  those  in  whose  society  you  live  and 
move;  by  books,  by  pictures,  by  music,  and 
by  all  our  in-door  and  out-door  amusements  and 
occupations. 

Much,  if  not  the  greater  part,  of  man's  association 
in  this  day  of  general  knowledge  and  cultivation  is 
found  in  the  silent  companionship  of  the  books  and 
newspapers  with  which  he  daily  communes,  and  in  all 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  67 


tlie  otlier  emploj^ments  of  his  daily  life.  These  con- 
stitute much  more  truly  his  associates,  and  exercise 
over  him  a  much  more  powerful  influence,  than  his 
living  companions.  This  is  the  atmosphere  in 
which  he  really  lives  and  moves  and  has  his  being, 
and  which,  all  the  more  powerfully  because  all  the 
more  unconsciously,  creates  and  sustains  his  pecu- 
liar taste,  temperament,  opinions,  and  habits. 

This  is  a  point  of  unspeakable  importance  to  the 
young,  and  yet  but  little  considered.  Young  men, 
it  has  been  said,  are  like  the  chameleon.  They  take 
their  colour  from  the  objects  with  which  they  are 
brought  in  contact,  be  they  personal  or  material. 
They  have  as  yet  no  character  of  their  own,  fixed  and 
immovable;  and  being,  like  sheep,  gregarious,  they 
readily  yield  to  the  impulse  of  any  leader  and  follow 
a  multitude  to  do  evil.  Now,  it  is  in  books  that  this 
communion  of  soul  is  most  intimate,  unreserved, 
absolute.  Continents  and  centuries  present  no 
obstacle  to  such  intercourse.  Time  and  space  are 
annihilated  by  this  mental  and  moral  association. 
Man  walks  continually  in  the  presence  and  under 
the  influence  of  those  who  have  drawn  him  to 
their  silent  society  and  by  the  irresistible  attraction 
of  their  powerfully-entrancing  witchery  of  style 
and  tragic  ^toiy.  Thoughts  that  would  kindle  a 
blush  of  shame  if  uttered,  scenes  which  would  shock 
by  their  abominable  shamelessness  if  witnessed, 
actions  which   he  would    condemn  as  equally  dis- 


QS  YOUNG    ]^EN'S 


honourable  and  degrading,  and  principles  wliicli  lie 
has  been  taught  to  regard  as  impious  and  profane,  a 
man  may  allow  to  pass  before  the  eye  of  his  mind,  to 
enter  the  ear  of  the  soul,  and  to  awaken  spijritual  im- 
pressions, perceptions,  and  feelings.  And  thus,  in  the 
confidence  of  his  Own  personal  morality  and  upright- 
ness, a  man  may  permit  visions  of  hell  to  be  daguerreo- 
typed  upon  his  heart,  and  leaven  of  corruption  to 
mingle  with  the  very  elements  of  his  being : — 

Youth,  confident  in  self,  tampereth  with  dangerous  dalliance. 
Till  the  vice  his  heart  once  hated  has  lock'd  him  iu  her  foul 
embrace. 

The  power  of  God's  moral  government  over  such  a 
man  is  by  this  silent  and  unobserved  process  de- 
stroyed, and  the  soul-inspiring  ideas  of  God,  eternity, 
heaven,  and  hell,  being  eclipsed,  the  heart  becomes 
insensible  to  every  pure  and  holy  motive,  because 
the  light  aud  love  and  power  of  the  gospel  are 
effectually  shut  out  from  the  darkened  soul.  The 
citadel  is  undermined  before  alarm  is  given.  While 
the  man  sleeps,  tares  are  sown  and  soon  spring  up  to 
choke  the  better  seed.  And  while  he  lies  slumbering 
in  dreamy  self-indulgence  on  the  lap  of  this  Delilah, 
his  hair  is  shorn,  his  strength  is  gone  from  him,  and 
he  walks  forth  as  at  other  times  into  the  midst  of 
temptation,  not  knowing  that  God  has  departed  from 
him.  Satan  having  entered  into  his  heart,  finds 
that  instead  of  resisting  he  becomes  an  easy  prey,  a 


CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATIONS.  69 


willing  captive,  a  degraded  bondsman,  submitting, 
by  a  self-entailed  compulsion,  the  whole  man  to  low, 
sensual,  and  grovelling  pleasures  and  pursuits. 

THE   EXPLANATION    OF    A    MYSTERY.  t 

This  is  the  secret  of  that  mystery  which  often 
meets  us  in  the  world,  when  there  is  some  sudden  and 
unlooked-for  development  of  vice,  crime,  or  ungod- 
liness in  the  life  of  some  man  or  woman  whose  out- 
ward conduct,  associations,  and  professions  were  all 
hitherto  irreproachable;  and  why  also  it  is  that  so 
many  live  in  impenitency  and  unbelief  against  all 
the  likelihoods  from  parental  piety  and  instruction, 
of  their  early  conversion  and  consecration  to  God. 

Their  secret  associations  have  been  with  books, 
pictures,  and  papers  which  feed  the  ungodliness  and 
sinful  carnality  of  their  natural  hearts.  Their  in- 
door, inward  life  has  been  one  of  vanity  and  fictitious 
demoralizing  worldliness.  They  have  thus  been  living 
in  an  atmosphere  of  sin,  and  generating  the  streams 
of  a  growing  sensuality,  carnal-mindedness,  and 
practical  atheism,  until  the  pent-up  waters  at  length 
burst  forth  in  some  open  development  of  the 
iniquity  which  had  long  been  accumulating  in  the 
heart.  The  poisonous  malaria  which  had  so  long  been 
secretly  inhaled  has  vitiated  the  very  life-blood  of 
their  moral  constitution,  so  that,  set  on  fire  of  hell, 
raging  with  the  fever  of  sensuality  or  of  vice  in 


'0  YOUNG   men's 


same  other  form,  and  burning  with  the  insatiable  thirst 
of  impetuous  desire,  they  rush  like  a  frenzied  patient 
from  the  restraints  of  home,  and  plunge  headlong 
into  crime,  dissipation,  or  dishonourable  courses. 
The  fire-damp  long  and  secretly  generated  has  per- 
meated the  recesses  of  the  soul,  and  only  needed  the 
spark  of  temptation  to  develop  it  in  an  explosion 
of  terrible,  consuming  flames, — 

Must  it  be  so  because 
I  did  not  scowl  temptation  from  my  presence, 
Dallied  with  thoughts  of  possible  fulfilment, 
And  only  kept  the  road,  the  access  open  ? 
I  but  amused  myself  with  thinking  of  it. 
The  free  will  tempted  me, — the  power  to  do 
Or  not  to  do  it.     Was  it  criminal 
To  make  the  fancy  minister  to  hope? 
Where  am  I?    Whither  have  I  been  transported? 
No  road,  no  track  behind  me,  but  a  wall 
Impenetrable,  insurmountable, 
Rises  obedient  to  the  thoughts  I  muttcr'd 
But  meant  not!     Mine  own  doings  tower  behind  me! 
A  punishable  man  I  seem :  the  guilt, 
Try  what  I  will,  I  cannot  roll  from  off  me. 

Thus  is  it  that  without  going  into  the  open  ways 
of  sin,  the  course  of  this  world,  or  into  the  haunts  of 
vice;  without  seeking  in  the  theatre  a  provocation 
to  lust  and  intemperance ;  and  without  going  hand- 
in-hand  with  the  openly  ungodly  and  profane;  young 
men — ay,  and  young  women  too — are  often  led  by 
secret   passages   down    to    the   pit  of  destruction, 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  71 


become  assimilated  in  feelings  tbouglit,  and  cha- 
racter with  those  from  whose  contamination  they 
once  shrank;  and  are  thus  prepared  to  riot  with 
greediness  in  that  nncleanness^  the  very  thought  of 
which  would  once  have  been  repelled  as  disgusting 
and  diabolical. 

CHRISTIAN  YOUNG   MEN   EARNESTLY  IMPLORED  TO 
SEEK   THE   SALVATION    OF   OTHERS. 

Christian  young  man,  whosoever  thou  art   that 
readest  this  appeal,  when  you  remember  that  you 

From  that  dark  prison-house 
Once  pass'd,  and,  from  Egyptian  bondage  freed, 
Wast  led  between  the  walls  of  hanging  seas  j — 

that  you  too  have  wandered  on  the  edge  of  death, — 

Of  death  that  dieth  not, — of  endless  death, — 
And  drunk  the  intoxications  of  the  cup 
Which  fiU'd  your  fancy  with  unreal  joys; — 

and  when  you  consider  that  these,  your  companions 
in  age,  in  nature,  and  in  destiny,  are  on  every  side 
and  in  every  way  surrounded  by  temptations  and 
snares  and  "damnable  delusions,^'  while  yet,  in 
awful  infatuation  and  cased  in  self-confidence,  they 
are  treading  on  the  verge  of  never-ending  woe  and 
abusing  to  their  greater  condemnation  their  brief  life 
"big  with  the  fate  of  all  eternity;" — oh,  will  you  not 
run  to  their  relief? 

A  few  years   since,  says  a  writer  in  the  Ame- 


72  YOUNG  men's 


rican  Messenger, — a  very  powerful  auxiliaiy  to 
those  who  would  do  good, — as  with  others  I  was 
detained  for  some  hours  on  the  shore  of  one  of 
our  inland  lakes  by  an  accident  upon  a  railroad,  I 
witnessed  an  incident  which  deeply  affected  me. 
Near  where  we  lingered,  impatient  of  delay,  there 
was  a  deep,  wide,  and  very  rapid  stream,  whose 
waters  roared  and  foamed  and  plunged  over  the  rocks 
into  the  lake.  In  this  perilous  current  there  was 
suddenly  discovered,  as  we  sat  listlessly  gazing,  a 
human  form^  apparently  lifeless,  and  rapidly  moving 
along  with  the  flood  just  at  its  entrance  into  the 
lake.  Quick  as  thought  the  party  were  astir;  but 
before  the  older  men  could  adopt  a  plan  for  a  rescue, 
one  of  our  number,  a  young  man  of  slender  form 
but  of  a  large  heart,  plunged  into  the  hurrying 
waters  and  struck  out  in  pursuit  of  their  victim. 
It  was  a  desperate  struggle.  Those  who  watched  it 
from  the  shore  were  almost  paralyzed  as  they  gazed. 
But  at  length  the  struggle  terminated  in  the  triumph 
of  the  daring  young  man.  Like  one  determined  to 
do  his  best,  he  laid  hold  on  the  object  of  his  exer- 
tions, and  slowly  made  his  way  with  his  burden  to 
the  shore,  where,  amid  the  shouts  of  the  spectators, 
he  at  length  laid  it  down.  The  drowned  man,  to 
all  appearance  dead,  after  long  and  persevering 
effort  to  restore  him,  proved  to  be  alive,  and,  before 
we  left  the  place,  spoke,  stood  up,  and  walked 
about  in  our  presence. 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  73'. 


Ttis  incident  suggested  to  my  mind,  says  the 
writer,  sucli  thoughts  as  these  : — 

That  noble-spirited  young  man  saved  a  hody  from 
death.  But  there  are  wuh  exposed  to  an  infinitely 
more  dreadful  death,  rapidly  passing  down  the 
perilous  current  of  time,  and  every  moment  nearing 
the  awful  ocean  of  eternity.  Who  shall  go  to  the 
rescue  ?  Old  men  will  counsel  and  do  what  they 
can )  but  many  of  them  lack  the  strength  and  energy 
for  quick  and  enterprising  exertion.  Who  then 
are  so  suitable  as  our  strong  young  men  to  plunge 
into  the  stream  and  bufi'et  the  waves  and  lay  hold 
upon  the  perishing  ? 

Again :  if  our  young  men  will  but  make  the 
eflFort  to  save  the  lost,  and  are  successful  even  in  a 
single  instance,  they  will  enjoy  not  only  the  appro- 
bation of  their  own  consciences  and  the  gratitude 
of  the  rescued  one,  but  those  shouts  of  joy  over  one 
sinner  that  repenteth  which  echo  from  the  heavenly 
shores.  Let  such  a  young  man  know  that  he  "  who 
converteth  a  sinner  from  the  error  of  his  way  shall 
save  a  ^oul  from  death  and  shall  hide  a  multitude 
of  sins.'' 

Nor  this  alone.  In  saving  one  soul,  you  save  many ; 
for  one  sinner  destroyeth  many  good.  A  drowning 
man  will  drag  down,  if  he  can,  others  with  him. 
A  wicked  man  cannot  live  alone.  He  must  have 
company.  He  must  join  hand  with  hand  and  take 
7 


74  YOUNG  men's 


counsel  together  witli  those  willing  to  be  seduced  or 
who  are  more  hardened  than  himself : — 

With  mimic  joy  and  fiendish  guile 

They  on  their  victim  smile : 
One  blindly  tears  life's  charter'd  scroll, 

And  tramples  on  the  sword ; 
Another  bears  the  inebriating  bowl, 

Or  whate'er  price  they  need  who  sell  their  Lord; 
While  folly  laughs,  to  gain  the  heart  and  head 

Of  those  who  dream  of  life  while  they  embrace  the  dead. 

In  the  expressive  language  of  Scripture,  sinners 
"  hatch  cockatrice's  eggs,  and  weave  the  spider's  web : 
he  that  eateth  of  their  eggs  dieth,  and  that  which 
is  crushed  breaketh  out  into  a  viper ;  and  he  that 
departeth  from  evil  maketh  himself  a  prey."  The 
sinner  thus  hopes  to  hide  himself  in  a  crowd,  to  divide 
the  risk,  to  parcel  out  the  criminality,"  and  to  bribe 
and  blind  conscience  to  be  silent.  And  hence  it 
is  not  ouiy  true  that  a  companion  of  fools  shall  be 
destroyed,  but  also  that  fools  will  destroy  their  com- 
panions. In  saving  one  sinner,  therefore,  you  with- 
draw one  partner  from  the  conspiracy.  His  influ- 
ence and  power  for  evil  are  destroyed.  The  crowd 
is  diminished,  and  fear  and  shame  act  with  redoubled 
power  on  his  startled  comrades.  Sinners  are  afraid. 
Fearfulness  hath  surprised  them. 

And,  further  still,  every  soul  rescued  is  a  friend, 
a  co-worker  gained.  He  is  added  to  your  ranks. 
He  is  enlisted  in  your  company.     He  fights  under 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  7o 


your  banner,  and  is  now  ready  and  zealous  for  every 
good  work. 

In  him,  too,  you  have  your  mightiest  argument, 
your  most  overwhelming  proof;  an  irresistible  ap- 
peal ;  a  living  exemplification  of  the  possibility  and 
the  blessedness  of  salvation ;  an  epistle  which  all  can 
see  and  read;  one  whom  all  knew  as  blind  and  lame 
and  dumb,  now  restored  to  sight,  leaping,  and  prais- 
ing Grod  who  hath  done  such  wonderful  things 
for  him ;  a  silent  but  persuasive  demonstration  of 
the  reality  and  glory  of  piety — 

That,  could  it  meet  the  thoughtful  gaze  of  men, 
Would  fill  the  eyes  with  tears,  the  breath  with  sighs. 
Like  rain  and  winds  upon  the  stagnant  lake. 
And  so  amend  the  heart. 

ILLUSTRATIONS    OF   THE   POWER   OF   CHRISTIAN 
yOUNG   MEN. 

And  this  Grod  can  make  your  efforts  accomplish. 
Let  Christian  young  men  bethink  them  of  their 
mission  and  their  power.  ''I  write  unto  you, 
young  men,  because  ye  are  strong,  and  the  word 
of  God  abideth  in  you,  and  ye  have  overcome  the 
wicked  one.''  In  you  ^'  God  has  ordained  strength, 
that  he  may  still  the  enemy  and  avenger." 

In  the  recent  terrible  calamity  occasioned  by  the 
burning  of  the  steamer  John  Jay,  on  Lake  George, 
when  in  one  half  hour  she  was  burned  to  the 
water's  ed2;e  and  all  on  board  were  driven  into  the 


'6  YOUNG   men's 


Tvater,  among  the  most  active  in  rescuing  passen- 
gers was  a  lad  of  seventeen,  named  William  Burnet, 
belonging  to  Ticonderoga.  He  dived  down  six  times 
and  saved  a  number  of  passengers.  He  was  at  last 
80  overcome  by  liis  indefatigable  exertions  as  to  be 
delirious  during  the  night.  Three  young  gentlemen 
of  Philadelphia, — Messrs.  Hutchinson, — who  very 
early  stripped  themselves  to  their  underclothes, 
after  saving  their  father  and  three  sisters,  were,  by 
their  energy  and  advice,  instrumental  in  saving 
many  others.  They  behaved  with  great  coolness 
and  confidence.  Such,  also,  is  your  power,  your 
trust,  your  solemn  charge.  Christian  young  men. 
For  amid  the  daily  scenes  and  intercourse  of  life, 
as  you  go  out  and  come  in,  as  you  travel  and  when 
you  rest,  at  home  and  abroad,  in  the  counting- 
house  and  the  family  circle,  in  the  street  and  alley, 
and  in  the  rolling  car  or  the  winged  steamer,  you 
may  find  opportunities  of  doing  good.  And  thus  also, 
amid  the  too  frequent  storms  and  wrecks  of  life,  may 
you  become  the  deliverer  of  the  perishing,  the  praise 
of  the  living,  and  yourself  doubly  blessed  as  you  see 
some  mother  clasping  and  kissing  over  and  over  again 
her  rescued  boy  plucked  from  her  arms  by  the  de- 
stroying waves  of  temptation,  and  gone,  she  feared, 
hopelessly  and  forever ;  or,  while  you  cKeer  some  almost 
lifeless  and  self-ruined  youth  with  hopes  of  mercy, 
and  clinging  to  him  with  the  grasp  of  a  love  stronger 
than  death,  bear  him  safely  to  the  shore.     Cling  to 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  ii 


him  J  yes,  grasp  him  with  a  yet  holier,  more  agoniz- 
ing hope  and  prayer  and  confidence.  Imitate  that 
heroic  woman  on  board  the  Northern  Indiana,  which 
was  also  recently  destroyed  by  fire, — Mrs.  Fowler. 
Having  made  her  husband  put  on  the  only  remaining 
life-preserv'^er,  and  tearing  away  her  bonnet  already  in 
flames,  she  plunged  with  him  into  the  lake.  When 
they  rose  to  the  surface  she  wiped  the  water  from  his 
mouth  and  eyes  and  encouraged  him  to  retain  his 
hope  of  being  saved.  He  continued  to  struggle  with 
the  waves.  Half  an  hour  elapsed,  and  there  were  no 
signs  of  assistance.  His  strength  was  rapidly  failing. 
His  wife,  observing  it,  tried  all  the  more  to  cheer  him. 
He  said  he  could  not  stand  it  any  longer ;  it  seemed 
as  though  he  must  give  up.  At  that  moment  she 
heard  a  steamer  coming  rapidly  through  the  water. 
^'My  dear  husband,"  she  said,  ^'a  few  moments  more 
and  we  are  safe.  Don't  you  hear  a  boat  coming  ?"' 
He  said  he  did,  and,  immediately  reviving,  made  all 
the  efibrt  in  his  power,  and  struggled  for  himself 
and  his  heroic  wife  until  the  '^Mississippi"  came 
up  and  took  them,  with  scores  of  others,  on  her 
commodious  decks.  Thus,  also,  my  young  Christian 
friend,  throw  around  your  perishing  brother  the  life- 
preserving  promises  of  the  gospel ;  thus  convince  him 
that  your  heart's  desire  and  prayer  is  that  he  may 
be  saved ;  thus  wipe  from  his  eyes  the  tears  of  de- 
spondency ;  thus  smile  away  the  gloom  of  hopeless 
despair;  and,  as  the  sound  of  mercy  comes  from  the 


78  YOUNG  men's 


blessed  gospel,  point  him  to  the  life-boat  of  salvation 
hasting  to  his  deliverance,  and  urge  him  with  one 
last  desperate  effort  to  lay  hold  of  the  rope  thrown 
out  for  his  salvation,  and  to  cast  himself  into  the 
arms  of  Him  who  stands  ready  to  receive  and  to  save 
him  in  his  uttermost  extremity. 

In  the  "Messenger"  for  February  was  an  account 
of  the  happy  death  of  a  young  man  who  was  brought 
to  Christ  through  the  divine  blessing  upon  a  faith- 
ful pencil-note  handed  him  by  a  youthful  stranger 
in  the  cars  between  Princeton  and  New  York.  The 
request  of  bereaved  friends  to  hear  from  the  writer 
of  the  note  has  been  answered. 

On  the  evening  of  the  first  day  of  February,  a 
young  merchant  of  New  York,  being  in  New  Orleans 
on  business,  dropped  into  the  rooms  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  of  that  city,  after 
having  addressed  the  boys  of  the  city  workhouse. 
Taking  up  the  "  Messenger"  for  February,  he  was 
looking  over  it,  when  two  strangers  entered,  whom 
he  approached  as  he  would  in  the  rooms  of  the  Society 
in  New  York,  of  which  he  is  an  active  member.  He 
entered  into  conversation  with  one  of  them,  whom 
he  was  on  the  point  of  asking  whether  he  was  a 
Christian,  and  if  not  if  he  did  not  expect  to  be, 
when  his  eye  fell  on  iJie  very  icords  in  the  article, 
"  Railroad  Letter." 

"  I  had  not,"  he  wrote  to  a  friend,  "read  over  five 
lines  when  I  dropped  the  paper : — Is  it  possible  that 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  79 


my  query  to  that  strange  youtli  I  sat  with  in  the 
cars  has  got  into  the  paper?  I  read  on,  and  im- 
mediately felt  that  I  had  been  the  instrument,  in 
God's  hand,  of  converting  a  soul.  Oh,  what  joy ! 
I  never  knew  till  then  what  pleasure  it  would  be  to 
be  conscious  of  being  the  means  of  saving  an  im- 
mortal soul.  I  retired  to  my  room  to  thank  Grod 
for  his  goodness  in  showing  me  some  result  to  feeble 
efforts  in  his  cause.  I  have  prayed  often  that  I 
might  have  this  privilege  here  on  earth;  and  now 
God  has  in  his  own  good  time,  and  by  such  ways 
as  to  him  seemed  best,  revealed  to  me  for  my  en- 
couragement that  we  do  not — yea,  cannot — sow  in 
vain.'' 

What  a  blessed  reward  has  this  young  Christian 
experienced  from  his  labours  for  Christ,  in  the  joy 
of  that  happy  hour !  May  not  every  Christian  in 
whose  heart  there  is  an  earnest  love  for  souls  hope 
for  like  sources  of  joy  either  in  this  or  in  the  better 
world  ?  Would  that  the  inquiry  in  his  letter  might 
lead  many  to  the  action  it  suggests!  "If  a  few 
words  may  do  so  much  good,  by  the  blessing  of  God, 
oh,  why  do  we  not  oftener  speak  them  in  humble 
faith  V 

Lagging  hours,  that  seem  to  linger, 

Yet  may  thus  each  have  a  finger, 

Pointing  wandering  souls  to  heaven. 

And  thus,  while  lengthening  shades  of  even 

On  life's  dial  fall,  and  now 

Darker  shadows  round  thee  go, 


80  YOUNG   men' 


Yet  thy  works  may  pass  before, 
Waiting  thee, — a  blessed  store  ! — 
In  their  number,  weight,  and  measure, 
Laid  up  in  enduring  treasure. 

CHRISTIAN    YOUNG    MEN    MUST    EXEMPLIFY    CHRIS- 
TIAN   CHARITY. 

To  sucli  labours  of  love  and  faith  and  prayer  you 
are  summoned  by  tbe  common  feelings  of  humanity 
which  prompt  to  pity  and  compassion  for  all  who 
are  in  danger  and  distress,  and  this  all  the  more 
powerfully  if  they  are  in  such  circumstances  as  we 
ourselves  have  known  by  bitter  experience  to  be 
imminently  hazardous.  But  Christianity,  —  embo- 
dying the  example  of  Christ,  his  love,  his  mercy, 
his  blood  and  righteousness,  his  humility  and  infinite 
condescension,  his  sufferings  and  death,  his  example 
of  self-denying  sacrifice  for  lost,  guilty,  ungrateful 
men, — this  demands  from  you  not  only  pity,  but  also 
mercy.  If  you  only  pity  the  suffering,  if  you  only 
weep  with  those  that  weep  tears  of  agony,  and 
mourn  with  those  who  mourn  the  loss  of  all  that 
was  dear  to  them,  what  do  ye  more  than  others? 
Do  not  even  the  Gentiles,  the  ungodly,  men 
everywhere,  the  same  ?  This  is  humanity.  It  is 
natural  affection.  It  proves  that  you  are  a  man. 
But  to  be  a  Christian — to  have  the  Spirit  of  Christ, 
to  do  as  Christ  did,  to  feel  as  Christ  felt,  to  love  as 
Christ  loved,  and  to  do  good  as  Christ  did  good — ^you 
must  exhibit  more  than  this.     You  must  not  only 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  81 


exercise  compassion,  but  mercy.  You  must  con- 
sider men  as  sinners,  guilty,  undone,  depraved,  pol- 
luted, untbankful,  selfish,  sensual,  enemies  of  Grod 
and  therefore  of  God's  children,  loving  darkness 
rather  than  light,  proud,  scornful,  and  not  only 
neglecters  but  rejecters  of  the  gospel.  You  must 
be  prepared  to  receive  evil  for  good,  railing  for 
entreaty,  cursing  for  blessing,  coldness  for  conde- 
scension, hatred  for  love,  threatening  for  forbearance, 
and  all  manner  of  evil  ungenerously  and  without 
cause  heaped  upon  you.  This  is  what  you  are  to 
expect  from  sinners.  Such  is  the  sad  working  of 
sin.  Such  were  you  and  I.  Such  are  all  men  in 
their  conduct  towards  Grod  whom  they  contemn,  to- 
wards Christ  whom  they  will  not  have  to  reign  over 
them,  and  towards  the  ever-blessed  Spirit  whom 
they  ^* resist'^  and  ''grieve'^  and  ''quench"  and  even 
"  blaspheme. '^  Such  was  the  treatment  given  to  our 
Lord,  who  came  to  his  own  but  they  received  him 
not,  who  was  maligned,  traduced,  betrayed,  falsely 
accused,  tried,  and  condemned,  and  by  wicked  hands 
crucified  and  slain.  And  yet  his  life  was  a  life  of 
mercy.  His  death  was  a  sacrifice  of  mercy.  His 
resurrection  was  an  ascension  to  the  throne  of  mercy, 
that  as  a  Prince  and  a  Saviour  he  might  there  ever 
live  to  give  repentance  and  remission  of  sins,  to 
dispense  grace  and  mercy,  and  to  reconcile,  rege- 
nerate, restore,  and  glorify  even  his  enemies  and 
persecutors. 


YOUNG   men's 


This  world,  this  life,  this  gospel,  every  thing 
around  us,  are  full  of  Christ's  mercies.  They  meet  us 
at  every  turn.  They  are  in  the  air  we  breathe,  the 
water  we  drink,  the  health  we  enjoy,  the  capacities 
we  exercise,  the  opportunities  of  business  we  pos- 
sess, and  in  the  means  of  living  and  of  supplying  our 
rational  desires  and  delights  of  which  through  grace 
we  are  possessed.  Yea,  it  is  owing  to  this  mercy  we 
are  permitted  to  live  and  move  and  have  our  being, 
so  that  the  very  strength  with  which  sinners  sin  and 
rebel  and  crucify  him  afresh  and  put  him  to  an  open 
shame  is  from  the  mercy  of  Christ.  Mercy  is 
everywhere.  Here  she  runs  to  meet  the  returning 
prodigal,  and  opens  her  arms  to  fold  him  to  her  bosom. 
Here  she  pleads  with  sinners  and  pronounces  pardon 
over  the  chief  of  them.  Here  she  weeps  with  guilty 
sufferers  and  dries  the  tear  upon  sorrow's  cheek. 
*'And  here,  eyeing  the  storm,  she  launches  her  life- 
boat through  the  foaming  breakers,  and  pulls  for  the 
wreck  where  souls  are  perishing.  It  is  her  blessed 
hand  which  rings  the  Sabbath  bell,  and  her  voice 
which  on  savage  shores  or  from  Christian  pulpits 
proclaims  the  Saviour  for  the  lost.  None  she  despises. 
She  despairs  of  none.  And,  not  to  be  scared  away 
by  the  foulest  sin,  she  stands  by  its  guilty  bed,  and, 
bending  down  to  death's  cold  ear, — when  the  twelfth 
hour  is  just  about  to  strike, — she  looks  into  the 
glassy  eye  and  cries,  ^Believe,  oh,  believe  I  only 
believe!    for    whosoever    believeth    in    the    Lord 


CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATIONS.  83 


Jesus  Christ  shall  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting 
life/  " 

Such  is  Christ,  and  such  should  every  Christian  be. 
Such  is  mercy, — that  divine  quality  which  charac- 
terizes Christians  as  "  a  peculiar  people.^'  And  let 
it  be  remembered  that  Christ  fulfilled  and  finished 
his  incarnate  mission  of  mercy  while  still  a  young 
man  according  to  the  flesh,  and  that  Christ  associated 
with  himself — in  his  labours  of  love,  and  in  his  self- 
denials  and  self-sacrifices,  his  patience,  perseverance, 
and  well-doing — young  men.  To  such  he  gave  his 
commission  and  intrusted  the  interests  of  his  cause. 
And  to  them  are  we  indebted  for  the  establishment, 
progress,  and  perpetuity  of  the  church.  From  their 
ranks  came  forth  the  army  of  martyrs,  the  innume- 
rable multitude  of  confessors,  and  the  great  cloud 
of  witnesses  in  every  age.  Such,  then,  as  Christ 
was,  such  as  his  apostles  and  martyrs  were,  such 
ought  every  young  man  to  be.  Such,  dear  reader^ 
ought  you  to  be.  Let  no  man  then  despise  thy 
youth.  Despise  and  neglect  it  not  yourself.  Make 
Christ  your  model.  Press  toward  the  mark  for  the 
prize  of  your  high  calling  in  Christ  Jesus.  Gro  thou 
and  do  likewise.  ^'  Let  the  same  mind  be  in  you 
that  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus.  For,  if  any  man  have 
not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  his,"  since 
the  love  of  Christ  constraineth  all  that  are  Christ's 
to  live  not  unto  themselves,  but  unto  him,  and  to 
follow  him  in  seeking  to  save  the  lost. 


84  YOUNG  men's 


If  indeed  you  would  be  either  known  or  felt  in 
the  world,  live  not  unto  yourself.  Live  for  others, 
or  you  will  be  passed  by  the  crowd,  as  they  hurry 
on,  unnoticed  and  unfelt.  You  will  be  left  upon  the 
drifting  waters,  like  the  useless  weed,  the  rotten 
branch,  or  the  leaky,  dismantled,  and  abandoned 
hulk.  The  world  has  no  use  for  you  unless  you 
are  of  use  to  it.  It  knows  you  not,  cares  not  for 
you,  unless  it  is  to  growl  at  you  because  you  are  in 
its  way,  or  rail  at  you  because  you  are  an  idle  drone 
in  the  busy  hive.  The  world  feels  the  power  of 
none,  heeds  none,  praises  none,  honours  none,  and 
rewards  none,  but  those  who  live  and  labour  and 
do  profitable  service  for  it.  Slumber  and  take  your 
ease,  and  you  will  be  left  to  do  so,  while  the  cars 
roll  on  and  all  opportunity  and  occasion  for  doing 
good  in  your  day  and  generation  has  been  passed  by 
forever.  And,  as  it  is  in  the  world,  so  also  is  it  in 
the  kingdom  of  heaven;  for  here  also  no  man  liveth  to 
himself,  and  no  man  dieth  to  himself;  for  it  is  only  to 
him  whose  life  is  Christ — that  is,  devotion  to  Christ's 
service  in  the  salvation  of  souls — is  "  death  gain." 
The  true  Christian,  therefore,  whether  he  lives,  lives 
unto  the  Lord,  or  whether  he  dies,  dies  unto  the 
Lord;  whether  he  lives,  therefore,  or  dies,  he  is  the 
Lord's. 

But  continued  as  well  as  energetic  exertion  is 
necessary  in  order  to  be  useful  to  others  and  healthy 
and  happy  yourself.     To  loiter  is  to  be  passed  and 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  85 


left  behind  in  the  race.  To  relax  is  to  enfeeble 
And  to  make  your  impressions  and  produce  notice- 
able effect,  and  then  leave  them,  is  to  write  characters 
on  the  sand,  which  the  next  wave  that  rolls  by  will 
forever  obliterate.  Enter,  then,  on  your  life  of  holy 
devotion  and  your  work  of  Christian  zeal,  with  all 
the  strength  of  youth  and  with  all  the  determination 
of  will  to  persevere ;  that  is,  as  the  converted  Hot- 
tentot said,  take  right  hold  : — hold  on :  and  never 
let  go.  And  to  whatever  age  and  stage  of  life  and 
of  Christian  life  you  may  arrive,  let  this  still  be  your 
motto.  Persevere.  Be  not  weary  in  well-doing. 
You  will  never  be  too  old  to  do  good,  nor  have  ac- 
complished so  much  as  not  to  be  stimulated,  for  your 
own  good  and  your  Saviour's  glory,  to  be  "  fruitful 
even  unto  old  age.'^  Washington  was  ready  even 
in  advanced  age  to  buckle  on  his  armour  and  meet 
the  call  and  the  enemies  of  his  country;  and  the 
hero  of  Lundy's  Lane  is  also  the  hero  of  Chapul- 
tepec. 

"Wear  out,  then;  don't  rust  out.  *  Why  don't 
you  give  up  business?'  said  a  millionaire's  friend,  one 
day.  '  You  are  getting  old,  and  have  made  enough 
to  retire  on.'  'I'd  rather  wear  out  than  rust  out,' 
was  the  answer;  'and  I  must  do  one  of  the  two. 
If  I  give  up  business  now,  after  having  been  habitu- 
ated to  it  for  forty  years,  I  shall  die  in  a  twelve- 
month or  two  from  sheer  inaction.  I  shall  rust  out. 
I  cannot  do  worse  by  keeping  on.     No  !  let  me  die, 


86  YOUNG  men's 


as  the  stout  knights  of  old  used  to  say,  with  the 
harness  on  my  hack.' 

^'And  he  was  right.  Merely  as  a  question  of 
health,  the  retiring  from  business  of  active  men, 
who  have  been  all  their  lives  accustomed  to  it,  is  a 
serious  blunder.  More  have  died  in  consequence 
of  it,  as  sagacious  physicians  know,  than  have  in- 
creased their  happiness, — unless,  indeed,  they  have 
substituted  the  work  of  man-making  for  the  work 
of  money-making,  and  labour  for  love  of  souls  and 
of  Christ  instead  of  labouring  for  filthy  lucre's  sake. 
Nature,  in  fact,  wars  on  idleness.  There  is  not  an 
atom  in  creation  that  is  long  at  rest.  The  rain  of 
to-day  was  vapour  of  yesterday,  and  that,  a  week 
ago,  was  water  in  the  Pacific.  The  winds  maintain 
forever  a  circulation  of  fresh  air,  without  which 
vegetables  and  animals  alike  would  die.  No  man, 
however  wealthy,  has  a  right  to  rust  out.  He 
violates  the  laws  of  his  being  if  he  attempts  it.  To 
feed  the  hungry,  to  clothe  the  naked,  to  comfort  the 
widow  and  orphan  in  their  afiliction,  is  part  of  the 
heaven-appointed  duty  of  those  who  have  equally 
money  and  leisure  at  their  disposal.  Wealth  and 
retirement  are  not  bestowed  for  riotous  living  or 
slothful  indulgence.  He  who  sits  down,  after  having 
acquired  a  fortune,  to  spend  his  days  in  selfish  gra- 
tification, literally  rusts  out  soul  as  well  as  body. 
True  manhood  spurns  such  a  cowardly  retreat  from 
the  great  battle  of  life  as  much  as  the  hero  would 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  87 


scorn  to  be  found  engaged  in  dalliance  wlien  victory 
was  turning  against  his  country.  It  is  only  cravens 
who  wish  to  die  on  silken  beds.  The  brave  prefer 
to  fall  with  their  armour  on  and  their  faces  to  the 
foe.     Wear  out !  don't  rust  out  1'' 

"  He  that  overcometh  and  keepeth  my  works  unto 
the  end,  to  him,  saith  the  First  and  the  Last,  will  I 
give  to  eat  of  the  hidden  manna,  and  I  will  give 
him  a  white  stone,  and  on  that  stone  a  new  name 
written,  which  no  man  knoweth  saving  he  that  re- 
ceiveth  it.  And  I  will  give  him  the  morning  star. 
The  same  shall  be  clothed  in  white  raiment;  and  I 
will  confess  his  name  before  my  Father  and  the  holy 
angels.  And  I  will  make  him  a  pillar  in  the  temple 
of  my  God,  and  he  shall  go  no  more  out.  And  I 
will  grant  him  to  sit  with  me  in  my  throne,  even  as 
I  also  overcame,  and  am  sat  down  with  my  Father 
in  his  throne." 

Wouldst  thou  the  life  of  souls  discern  ? 

Love  is  life's  only  sign. 
The  spring  of  the  regenerate  heart, 
The  pulse,  the  glow  of  every  part. 
Is  the  true  love  of  Christ  our  Lord, 
In  works  and  not  in  words  adored. 
ThCTi  we  begin  to  love  indeed; 
When,  from  our  sin  and  bondage  freed 

By  this  all-powerful  Friend, 
We  follow  him  from  day  to  day. 
Assured  of  grace  through  all  the  way, 

And  glory  at  the  end. 


8.8  YOUNG  men's 


YOUTH   IS   FRUITFUL   OF   EXPEDIENTS. 

In  thus  following  Christ  you  will  be  aided  by 
your  youth,  not  only  because  it  is  strong,  but  also 
because  it  is  fruitful  of  inventions  and  plans.  It 
will  suggest  a  thousand  ways  for  the  better  accom- 
plishment of  the  work  of  the  Lord  than  perhaps  any 
method  of  doing  good  now  employed;  or,  at  least,  for 
securing  the  same  results  by  novel,  striking,  and 
attractive  agencies.  It  will  be  instant  in  season  and 
out  of  season.  It  will  not  weary  in  well-doing.  It 
will  sow  the  good  seed  in  the  morning  and  in  the 
evening  not  withhold  its  hand,  and  this,  too,  beside 
all  waters  and  along  every  wayside,  not  knowing 
which  shall  prosper, — this  or  that.  It  will  spend  and 
be  spent,  and  gather  strength  from  toil,  being  fer- 
vent in  spirit  serving  the  Lord,  and  counting  it 
meat*  and  drink  to  do  his  will. 

YOUTH  IS  ALSO  BOLD  AND  ENERGETIC. 

Youth  also  is  dauntless,  bold  as  a  lion,  not  fear- 
ing the  face  of  man,  ready  to  give  to  every  man 
a  reason  of  the  hope  that  is  in  him,  aud  to  contend 
earnestly  for  the  faith, — if  needs  be,  even  unto  blood. 
Only  let  this  courage  be  tempered  with  discretion, 
so  that  you  may  be  wise  as  serpents  and  harmless 
as  doves,  becoming  all  things  to  all  men,  hoping  all 
things  and  bearing  all  things,  if  by  any  means  you 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS. 


may  save  some, — catching  them  with  a  heavenly 
guile,  drawing  them  by  the  cords  of  a  man  or  pluck- 
ing them  as  brands  from  the  burning.  ^'Seeing 
therefore  ye  have  this  ministry,  ye  faint  not." 

Thus,  nor  the  hills  and  vales  that  breathe  of  heaven, 
And  vines,  and  setting  suns,  and  rays  of  even, 
Alone  speak  God's  blest  language ;  but  the  walls 
Of  crowded  cities  echo  back  his  calls, 
Heard  sweetly  amid  rude  suburban  cells, 
And  thickly-peopled  towns,  where  Penury  dwells. 
There,  haply,  some  fond  parent's  aching  breast 
Looks  for  a  long-lost  child  in  sad  unrest, 
Watching  the  distance  in  his  lone  abode, 
"Where  opes  the  window  to  the  mountain  road. 
Oh,  haste  to  meet  the  wanderer  on  the  wild. 
Till  Justice  yields  to  Mercy  reconciled. 
With  yearning  heart  oh  breathe  celestial  love, 
Melting  with  mercy  such  as  dwells  above. 
That,  while  sad  Memory  racks  with  guilty  fears, 
Thy  heart-appealing  love  may  move  his  tears, 
And  urge  to  rise  and  seek  that  Father's  face 
Who  hastes  to  grasp  him  in  his  fond  embrace. 

WHAT   YOUNG    MEN's    CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATIONS 
HAVE   ALREADY   DONE. 

Already  these  associations  have  done  much,  and 
have  devised  many  unpractised,  if  not  unthought-of, 
ways  and  walks  of  usefulness.  They  are  now  found 
in  the  lanes  and  streets  and  thoroughfares  of  our 
cities,  gathering  the  outcast  ragged  children  into 
schools,  visiting  the  sick  and  the  dying,  the  father- 


90  YouNa  men's 


less  and  the  widow,  and,  by  tracts  and  books  and 
lectures,  carrying  tlie  gospel  to  every  house  and 
hovel  and  garret  and  chamber.  "  Like  a  sunbeam 
passing  undefiled  through  the  foulest  atmosphere/' 
they  are  seen  labouring  in  Christian  purity  and  love 
where  the  basest  of  the  race  are  perishing,  not 
shrinking  from  their  loathsome  guilt,  but,  with 
Jesus'  pity  and  Jesus'  tears,  offering  to  the  very 
chief  of  sinners  the  cup  of  salvation,  the  bread  of 
life,  the  manna  of  heaven,  the  living  water,  and  the 
healing  balm. 

Under  their  auspices  we  find  out-door  preaching 
in  the  streets  or  parks  or  commons  of  some  of  our 
large  cities.*  They  have  given  rise  also  to  many  valu- 

*■  Preaching  on  Boston  Common. — Yesterday  afternoon,  says 
the  "  Traveller"  of  Monday,  the  21st  instant,  at  six  o'clock.  Rev. 
Dr.  Kirk,  of  this  city,  preached  to  an  audience  of  about  three 
thousand  people,  in  Yale's  mammoth  tent,  which  was  spread 
for  the  purpose  on  the  Common,  near  the  pond.  The  services 
were  the  same  as  those  usually  practised  in  our  churches;  and 
the  discourse  which  the  reverend  preacher  delivered,  from  the 
text  furnished  in  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son,  was  well  con- 
ceived for  such  an  audience,  and  was  most  attentively  and  re- 
spectfully hearkened  to.  Out-door  preaching  having  thus  proved 
a  success,  Ave  learn  that  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
under  whose  auspices  this  was  conceived,  will  have  further  ser- 
vices conducted  on  next  Sunday  afternoon,  at  which  the  Right 
Rev.  Bishop  Eastburn  will  officiate. 

The  "  Christian  Witness  and  Church  Advocate"  (Episcopal) 
says  of  this  movement : — "  We  are  glad  to  learn  that  a  success- 
ful commencement  of  out-door  preaching  was  made  in  this 
city  last  Sunday  under  the  auspices  of  the  Young  Men's  Chris- 


CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATIONS.  91 


able  series  of  public  lectures  to  young  men.  And 
by  their  annual  conferences  they  are  now  converg- 
ing into  one  centre  the  light  and  heat,  the  enterprise 
and  experience,  of  all  affiliated  societies,  and  giving 
the  best  opportunity  for  awakening  and  diffusing 
the  spirit  of  ever-widening  charity. 

This  may,  and  we  trust  will,  lead  to  the  publication 
of  a  weekly  paper  or  monthly  magazine,  specially 
devoted  to  the  wants  of  young  men,  and  opening  up 
a  channel  by  which  sanctified  talent  and  holy  zeal 
may  communicate  the  inspirations  of  their  heaven- 
taught  souls  to  their  brethren,  and  provoke  them  to 
still  greater  love  and  zeal  and  devotion.* 

On  a  recent  journey  to  the  mountains  of  Vir- 
ginia, I  heard  everywhere,  as  I  passed  along,  com- 
plaints of  long-continued  and  destructive  drought; 
and  parched  fields,  clouds  of  dust,  and  thin-eared, 
withering  crops,  gave  melancholy  proof  of  the  sad 


tian  Association.  Rev.  Mr.  Kirk  preached,  at  six  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  to  an  audience  of  about  three  thousand  people,  in 
Yale's  mammoth  tent,  -which  was  spread  for  the  purpose  on  the 
Common,  near  the  pond.  On  next  Sunday  afternoon  we  are 
informed  that  there  will  be  service  at  the  same  hour.  "We  do 
not  know  who  will  officiate.  This  is  a  good  movement;  and  we 
hope  it  will  bring  multitudes  to  hear  the  gospel  who  are 
now  living  as  if  its  glad  tidings  had  never  sounded  upon 
our  earth." 

*  This,  we  find,  is  already  initiated  in  the  Quarterly  Re- 
porter, under  the  direction  of  the  Central  Committee,  at  Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio. 


92  YOUNG  men's 


truth.  But  scarcely  had  I  reached  the  mountains 
before  the  clouds  began  to  gather  from  all  quarters 
and  to  accumulate  their  combined  vapours  in  one 
general  mass,  so  thick  and  heavy  as  to  darken  the 
mid-day  sun  and  encompass  our  very  dwellings  like 
the  curtains  of  night.  The  winds  soon  rallied  their 
forces.  The  lightnings  commenced  their  brilliant 
and  glorious  display  of  terrific  power  and  grandeur. 
And,  as  the  artillery  of  heaven,  like  salvos  of  can- 
non in  honor  of  some  great  victory,  announced  the 
approach  of  Him  who  thundereth  marvellously  with 
his  voice  and  directeth  his  lightning  unto  the  ends 
of  the  earth,  the  heavens  poured  down,  far  and  wide, 
a  copious  and  fertilizing  rain. 

And  just  such  for  years  had  been  the  condition 
and  complaint  of  the  Christian  world.  Fields  dry 
and  barren,  and  "  nigh  unto  cursing,'^  lay  every- 
where, in  waste  sterility,  beneath  a  heaven  impene- 
trable as  brass,  and  fast  becoming  hard  as  iron. 
Faithful  and  believing  hearts  everywhere  bewailed 
in  secret  places  the  gloomy  and  insensible  condition 
of  the  church,  and  earnestly  besought  the  Lord  of 
the  harvest  to  gend  forth  the  wind  of  his  Spirit,  and 
the  dew  and  rain  of  his  life-giving  presence. 
Soon  a  small  cloud  was  seen  in  the  western  horizon. 
Other  clouds  were  attracted  by  it,  and  united  with  it, 
until  they  spread  themselves  over  the  eastern  horizon 
also.  To  drop  the  figure.  Christian  young  men  in 
the  heart  of  London  were  awakened  to  the  claims  of 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  93 


perishing  young  men  around  tliem,  and,  unnoticed 
and  unknown,  united  themselves  for  prayer  and 
mutual  encouragement.  Others  were  attracted  and 
interested  in  their  movement.  Associations  multi- 
plied in  England,  Scotland,  on  the  Continent,  and 
in  the  United  States.  Union  in  prayer  and  labour, 
in  self-denial  and  self-sacrifice,  for  the  salvation  of 
souls,  was  followed  by  its  promised  blessing  from 
above.  God  heard  and  answered.  God  looked 
down  well  pleased,  and  was  with  them  to  bless  and 
do  them  good.  His  ear  was  opened.  His  hand 
was  outstretched.  The  windows  of  heaven  were 
unbarred.  Showers  of  divine  grace  were  poured 
down  in  copious  measure  on  many  a  barren  field, 
— here  a  little  and  there  a  little.  The  voice  of  joy 
and  gladness  was  heard  in  every  land.  Praise  and 
thanksgiving  arose  from  many  a  new-born  soul, 
from  rejoicing  friends,  and  from  sympathizing  angels. 
The  hearts  of  young  men  buried  in  the  pursuits  of 
earth  were  again  turned  to  their  Saviour  and  his 
cause,  and  were  led  to  ask,  "Lord,  what  wouldst  thou 
have  me  to  do  ?"  Our  theological  seminaries  began 
to  multiply  their  diminished  numbers,  and,  as  the 
fields  after  the  genial  rain  put  on  their  green  and 
flourishing  attire,  and  gave  promise  of  an  abundant 
harvest,  so  also  has  God  given  the  cheering  prospect 
of  labourers  more  adequate  to  his  spiritual  harvest. 
And  if  such  has  been  the  beginning  of  this  good 
work  and  such  the  first-fruits  of  these  associations, 


94  YOUNG  men's 


what  may  we  expect  in  their  maturity,  tLrough  the 
mercy  of  that  gracioiis  Redeemer  to  whom  the  hearts 
of  the  young  are  so  dear,  and  who  has  chosen  by 
their  instrumentality  to  perfect  praise,  and  to  do 
many  and  even  greater  works  than  eye  hath  yet  seen, 
or  ear  heard,  or  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man 
to  conceive  ? 

WHAT  THESE  ASSOCIATIONS  MAY  YET  ACCOMPLISH. 

The  field  is  large,  the  door  is  open.  There  is 
yet  room — oh,  how  much  room  ! — for  all  that  have 
a  heart  and  a  hand  to  work  in  the  vineyard.  The 
harvest  is  white,  yea,  perishing  for  lack  of  labourers, 
and  of  labourers  beyond  and  supplementary  to  those 
who  ''are  burdened"  and  broken  down  with  the 
exhausting,  overwhelming  duties  of  the  ministry. 
The  canvassing  of  our  cities  for  children  to  fill  mis- 
sion schools  in  their  convenient  neighbourhood  and 
adapted  to  their  social  position,* — the  distribution 

*  Sunday-school  Canvass  op  London. — The  Sunday- 
school  canvass  of  the  metropolis  has  commenced  with  every 
prospect  of  a  successful  result.  Mr.  Hartley,  the  Secretary  of 
the  Canvass  Committee,  says,  ''As  far  as  can  be  ascertaine'd 
the  number  of  canvassers  engaged  in  this  important  work  is 
not  less  than  eight  or  ten  thousand.  About  one  thousand 
copies  of  the  'Appeal  to  the  Christians  of  London,'  four  hun- 
dred thousand  copies  of  the  'Address  to  Parents,'  seven  thou- 
sand canvassers'  books,  and  the  same  number  of  recommenda- 
tion-books, have  been  prepared  and  put  in  circulation,  and  nu- 
merous meetings  have  been  held  to  instruct  and  interest  the 


CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATIONS.  95 


of  Bibles,  tracts,  and  books, — tbe  establishment  of 
local  prayer  and  fellowship  meetings  and  lectures, — 
co-operation  with  benevolent  and  charitable  institu- 
tions for  the  relief  of  want  and  suffering, — the 
establishment  of  saving-banks  for  the  poor,  or  such 
direction  and  advice  concerning  them  as  is  necessary 
to  make  them  available, — these,  and  whatever  else 
will  tend  to  elevate,  reform,5and  render  temperate, 
thrifty,  prudent,  and  economical,  the  humblei^  classes 
of  society,  are  "  opportunities  of  doing  good  to  all," 
which  are  not  to  be  overlooked  when  it  is  in  the 
power  of  their  hand  to  use  them : — 

Free-handed  bounty  !  where  her  footsteps  stray, 
Spring  verdant  trees  around,  and  flowers  that  move 
Their  thankful  heads.     Her  treasure  is  above ; 
And  therefore  doth  she  shrink  from  earthly  praise, — 
Friend  of  the  poor  ! 

THE    NUiMBER    OF    CHRISTIAN   YOUNG    MEN   IN    THE 
UNITED    STATES. 

There  cannot  be  less  than  one  million  of  young 
men  among  the  four  million   of  professors  in  the 

canvassers  in  the  several  districts  of  the  metropolis."  Such  an 
army  of  Christian  labourers,  simultaneously  perambulating  the 
streets  of  Loudon,  penetrating  every  court  and  alley,  visiting 
every  house,  and  seeking  to  bring  under  religious  instruction 
the  entire  youthful  population,  is  probably  an  event  unprece- 
dented in  the  history  of  the  Church,  and  richly  deserves  the 
hearty  sympathy  and  earnest  prayers  of  every  Christian  patriot 
and  philanthropist. 


93  YOUNG  men's 


thirty  thousand  evangelical  cliurclies  of  the  United 
States,  and  not  less  than  four  million  young  men 
among  the  families  connected  with  and  under  the 
influence  of  the  sixteen  million  persons  who  are 
affiliated  with  those  churches.  AVhat  a  host  of  work- 
men !  What  a  field  in  which  to  work!  What 
work  may  not  such  materials,  wrought  upon  by  such 
artificers,  under  the  direction  and  wisdom  and  all- 
powerful  grace  of  the  Master-Workman — the  divine 
Sculptor  and  the  all-powerful  Regenerator — accom- 
plish !  What  new  life  may  they  not  infuse  into 
these  churches  !  How  may  the  sound  of  their  voice, 
saying  *'come,"  swell  the  voice  of  the  preached 
gospel,  saying  "come,"  until  throughout  all  the 
earth  there  shall  be  no  speech  nor  language  where 
their  voice  is  not  heard, — none  left  to  say  unto  his 
brother,  "  Know  thou  the  Lord,  because  all  shall 
know  him  from  the  least  unto  the  greatest  V  What 
a  noble  testimony  may  not  such  a  host,  marshalled 
under  the  banners  of  the  Crucified,  bear  to  the 
glorious  gospel  of  the  blessed  Grod !  What  an  in- 
vincible protest  may  they  not  offer  against  atheism, 
scepticism,  false  philosophy,  and  error  of  every  name 
and  school ;  against  bigotry,  sectarianism,  and  every 
high  thing  that  exalteth  itself  in  opposition  to  the 
truth  and  power  and  love  and  glory  of  God,  and  to 
that  peace  and  good-will  which  should  prevail  among 
men  !  What  a  shout  may  go  up  from  such  a  multi- 
tude,— loud  as  the  noise  of  many  waters,  or  of  a  vie- 


CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATIONS.  9' 


torioTis  army  when  witli  acclamations  of  triumph  it 
drives  before  it  the  retreating  foe  like  chaif  before  the 
whirlwind,  or  as  the  sound  of  blest  voices  uttering  joy 
whicli  ascend  to  the  throne  of  God  and  the  Lamb  from 
that  innumerable  company,  whom  no  man  can  num- 
ber, around  the  throne, — as  they  ''lift  up  their  voice 
with  strength,  as  they  lift  it  up,  and  are  not  afraid, 
and  say  unto  the  cities  of  Judah,  Behold  your  God." 

THE  GLORIOUS  CONFEDERATION   OF  ALL  CHRISTIAN 
YOUNG    MEN. 

What  a  magnificent  embodiment  of  Christian  love 
would  the  association  of  these  millions  of  young  men 
present,  drawn  together  and  united  and  held  to- 
gether by  "  Him  to  whom  shall  be  the  gathering 
of  the  nations."*  Having  Christ  in  their  heart  the 
hope  of  glory,  they  find  in  Christ's  church  a  home 
where  '*  the  social  instincts  of  humanity,  attracted 
by  brotherly  love,  experience  all  that  gratifies,  glad- 
dens, and  purifies."  And  in  the  divine  principle 
of  association  they  have  "a  bond  of  perfectness;"  a 
law  of  attraction;  an  atmosphere  of  light;  an  element 
of  active,  out-going,  diffusive,  and  all-embracing 
charity,  by  which  the  divided  are  made  one  and  the 

*  May  not  the  power  of  these  associations  be  vastly  enhanced 
by  associating  with  them  Christian  young  women  in  affiliated 
union,  and  by  co-operating  with  and  superintending  Young 
Women's  Christian  Associations  for  doing  for  young  women 
what  these  do  for  young  men  ? 


98  YOUNG  men's 


sin-separated  united  by  holy  principles;  an  instinct 
stronger  than  any  earth-born  affection  penetrating 
through  a!ll  social,  civil,  political,  and  ecclesiastical 
distinctions,  and  drawing  together  into  one  heart- 
yearning,  heart-satisfying  affection  the  children  of 
God,  the  partakers  of  one  blood,  brethren  in  Christ 
and  heirs  together  through  him  to  the  same  inherit- 
ance of  glory. 

This  feeling  of  brotherhood,  binding  Christians 
together  here  as  children  not  only  of  the  same 
Father  but  also  of  the  same  mother,  (for  Jerusalem, 
or  Zion,  is  the  mother  of  us  all,)  would  be  a  bond 
elastic  enough  and  strong  enough  to  encircle  our  land 
and  the  globe  itself,  and  to  unite  together  in  one 
bundle  of  life — irresistible  by  its  united  strength  as 
an  aggressive  weapon  and  secure  against  all  assaults 
in  its  self-protecting  combination — all  who  call  upon 
the  name  of  the  Lord,  both  theirs  and  ours. 

And  it  will  yet  do  so.  God  will  gather  his  children 
from  the  east,  and  gather  them  from  the  west. 
He  will  say  to  the  north.  Give  up ;  and  to  the  south, 
Keep  not  back.  Bring  my  sons  from  far  and  my 
daughters  from  the  ends  of  the  earth,  even  every 
one  that  is  called  by  my  name,  for  I  have  created 
him  for  my  glory.  One  shall  say,  I  am  the  Lord's; 
and  another  shall  call  himself  by  the  name  of  Jacob; 
and  another  shall  subscribe  with  his  hand  unto  the 
Lord,  and  shall  surname  himself  by  the  name  of 
Israel.      How   blissful   the   contemplation  of  that 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  99 


general  assembly,  that  covenanted  union  of  the 
children  of  God !  Born  by  a  new  celestial  birth, 
Jesus  himself  presiding  over  and  blessing  them ;  the 
representatives  of  all  sects  and  parties  shall  meet  to 
sing  the  jubilee  of  universal  peace  and  celebrate  the 
funeral  of  all  their  differences!  Over  that  grave 
no  tears  shall  be  shed.  Beside  it  no  pale  mourners 
shall  stand.  All  quarrels  and  controversies  and  all 
weapons  of  war  shall  then  be  forever  buried, — buried 
without  hope  or  fear  of  a  resurrection,  while  above, 
shining  brightly  and  gloriously,  heaven  shall  rise  as 
the  temple  dedicated  to  eternal  concord. 

Glorious  prophecy !  Hasten  it  in  our  time,  0 
Lord.  Why  tarry  thy  chariot-wheels?  Tarry 
not.  Defer  not.  Hearken  and  bless.  Speak  thou 
the  word,  and  great  shall  be  the  multitude.  Re- 
member thy  covenant  which  thou  hast  made,  which 
thou  hast  spoken,  which  thou  hast  renewed  and 
sealed  by  two  immutable  things, — thy  promise  and 
thy  oath.  Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly.  And 
let  it  come  to  pass  in  these  days  that  thou  wilt  pour 
out  thy  Spirit  upon  all  flesh.  Then  shall  our  sons 
and  our  daughters  prophesy,  and  our  young  men 
see  visions,  and  our  old  men  dream  dreams;  and  then 
shall  it  come  to  pass  that  whosoever  shall  call  upon 
the  name  of  the  Lord  shall  be  saved.  Even  so, 
Lord  Jesus ;  come  quickly.  For  Zion's  sake  I  will 
not  hold  my  peace,  and  for  Jerusalem's  sake  I  will 
not  rest,  until  the  righteousness  thereof  go  forth  as 


100  YOUNG   men's 


briglitness,  and  tlie  salvation  thereof  as  a  lamp  that 
burnetii.  0  ye  watchmen  upon  the  walls  of  Je- 
rusalem, hold  not  your  peace  day  nor  night.  Make 
mention  of  the  Lord,  keep  not  silence,  and  give 
him  no  rest  till  he  establish  and  till  he  make  Jeru- 
salem a  praise  in  the  earth.  For  as  a  young  man 
marrieth  a  virgin,  so  shall  thy  sons  marry  thee,  0 
Zion;  and  as  the  bridegroom  rejoiceth  over  the 
bride,  so  shall  thy  God  rejoice  over  thee. 

CHRISTIAN   YOUNG     MEN    THE    BOND    OF    NATIONAL 
UNION. 

Before  concluding,  let  me  remark  that  there  never 
was  a  time  in  this  country  when  it  was  so  important 
that  Christians  of  all  denominations  should  see  eye  to 
eye  and  be  of  one  heart  and  one  mind.  The  union 
of  these  States  is  the  greatest  miracle  of  God's  poli- 
tical wisdom,  power,  and  goodness,  ever  performed 
since  the  exodus  of  Israel  and  the  establishment 
of  the  divine  theocratic  republic.  Not  the  ark  upon 
the  whelming  waters  of  a  deluged  world,  with  its 
living  freight  and  its  divine  principles,  was  more 
important  to  the  interests  of  humanity,  or  more 
significant  of  divine  benignity,  than  is  this  ark 
bearing  within  its  consecrated  walls  the  life  and 
power  of  a  world  whelmed  in  the  flood  of  civil  and 
religious  despotism.  And  yet  there  are  machinations 
of  evil  working  with  superhuman  energy  to  under- 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  101 


mine  the  foundations  of  that  union,  and  to  o\erturu 
and  overturn,  until  all  our  hallowed  institutions,  civil, 
political,  and  religious, — the  praise  and  envy  of  the 
whole  earth, — are  buried  in  one  mass  of  ruins! 
And  yet  against  that  very  ark  Satan  has  let  loose 
all  the  winds  of  heaven,  and  upheaved  the  ocean 
from  its  inmost  depths  to  bury  it  in  its  fathomless 
abyss,  and  once  more  defeat,  if  he  may,  the  merciful 
purposes  of  God  towards  man ! 

But  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it. 
Its  builder  and  maker  is  God.  The  Lord  in  the 
midst  of  it  is  mighty.  It  is  founded  upon  the  Rock 
of  ages.  That  ark  is  of  divine  construction,  and 
was  launched  upon  her  billowy  deep  by  the  divine 
power.  And  he  who  guides  her  course  can  make 
even  the  winds  to  be  still  and  the  waves  to  cease, 
can  encircle  her  with  the  bow  of  promise,  make  her 
framework  durable  as  the  everlasting  mountains,  and 
again  send  forth  from  her,  to  a  world  groaning  un- 
der the  corruption  and  abuses  of  superstition  and 
despotic  tyranny,  the  dove  of  loving  peace,  the  olive- 
branch  of  hope,  the  pledges  of  liberty  and  of  a 
.renovated  earth. 

Thou  too  sail  on,  0  ship  of  State, 
Sail  on,  0  Union  strong  and  great ! 
Humanity — Tvith  all  its  fears. 
With  all  the  hopes  of  future  years — 
Is  hnnjing  breathless  on  thy  fate! 
We  know  what  master  laid  thy  keel ; 
What  workman  wrought  thy  ribs  of  steel; 
9* 


102  YOUNG   men's 


Who  made  each  mast  and  sail  and  rope; 

What  anvils  rang,  what  hammers  beat, 

In  what  a  forge  and  what  a  heat 

Were  shaped  the  anchors  of  thy  hope  ! 

Fear  not  each  sudden  sound  and  shock : 

'Tis  of  the  wave,  and  not  the  rock; 

'Tis  but  the  flapping  of  the  sail, 

And  not  a  rent  made  by  the  gale  ! 

In  spite  of  rock  and  tempest-roar, 

In  siiite  of  false  lights  on  the  shore, 

Sail  on,  nor  fear  to  breast  the  sea ! 

Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears, 

Our  faith,  triumphant  o'er  our  fears, 

Ai-e  all  with  thee, — are  all  with  thee ! 

For  the  realization^  however,  of  this  glorious  pro- 
phecy, to  what  other  agency  can  we  look  with  greater 
confidence  than  to  the  union  of  our  Christian  young 
men  throughout  the  land?  These  can  "keep  the 
unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bonds  of  peace."  By 
these  DISUNION  can  be  averted  and  the  union  pre- 
served. These  can  do  more  by  their  Christian  fel- 
lowship and  prayers  and  influence,  than  all  the  poli- 
ticians in  the  land  can  do  either  for  good  or  ill. 
"  They  have  power  with  God  to  prevail." 

And  as  at  their  recent  conference  these  associations 
were  invoked  to  employ  this  influence  for  the  de- 
liverance of  our  country  and  Britain  our  fatherland 
from  war,  so  would  I  now  invoke  it  for  averting  the 
still  more  dreadful  calamity  of  civil  war  and  political 
disunion. 

I  allude  to  this  subject  not  as  a  politician, — for  1 


CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATIONS.  103 


kave  never  been  identified  with  any  one  political 
party, — but  as  a  Christian  citizen  who  has  been  led 
to  cherish  these  sentiments  towards  the  land  of  his 
early  adoption  and  matured  affection, — and  I  do  it 
because  the  most  frightful  peculiarity  in  the  present 
conflict  of  opinion  is  the  abandonment  of  the  Bible 
as  a  standard  of  duty  and  of  morals  even  by  many 
professing  Christians,  their  association  with  those 
who  reject  its  authority  altogether,  and  the  conse- 
quent promulgation  of  principles  which,  once  esta- 
blished, could  lead  only  to  agrarianism,  anarchy,  and 
bloodshed. 

To  you,  my  young  friends,  I  would  therefore  ad- 
dress the  truly  eloquent,  Christian,  and  patriotic 
words  of  the  venerable  Dr.  Nott, — the  American 
Nestor, — and  thus  blend  the  voice  of  the  North 
with  that  of  the  South,  in  an  appeal  to  your  heart 
of  hearts  on  behalf  of  our  bleeding,  lacerated 
country.* 

*  You  enter,'  says  that  venerable  and  patriotic 
Christian,  <  upon  life  at  a  critical  conjuncture.  Your 
country  stands  in  need  of  all  the  talents  and  all 
the  influence  you  can  carry  with  you  to  her  as- 
sistance. May  I  not  hope  that,  as  you  are  numbered 
among  her  patriots  and  statesmen,  your  prudence 
will  be  as  exemplary  as  your  zeal?     Though  you 

*  Given  in  a  Baccalaureate  address  to  the  students  of  Union 
College. 


lOi  YOUNG    men's 


should  differ  iu  political  opiuions,  be  one  in  affection, 
one  iu  the  pursuit  of  glory,  and  one  in  the  love  of 
your  country.  Do  nothing,  say  nothing,  to  produce 
unnecessary  rigour  on  the  one  part  or  lawless  resist- 
ance on  the  other.  Beware  how  you  contribute  to 
awaken  the  whirlwind  of  passion,  or  to  invite  to  this 
sacred  land  the  reign  of  anarchy. 

'  Whatever  irritations  may  be  felt,  whatever 
questions  may  be  agitated,  and  however  you  your- 
selves may  be  divided,  be  it  your  part  to  calm,  to 
soothe,  to  allay,  to  check  the  deed  of  violence,  to 
charm  down  the  spirit  of  party,  to  strengthen  the 
bonds  of  social  intercourse,  and  to  prove  by  your 
own  amiable  deportment,  by  your  own  affectionate 
intercourse,  that  it  is  possible  for  brethren  to  differ 
and  be  brethren  still.  Differ  indeed  you  may, 
and  avow  that  difference.  Freedom  of  speech  is 
your  birthright.  The  deed  which  conveys  it  was 
written  iu  the  blood  of  your  fathers ;  it  was  sealed 
beside  their  sepulchres :  and  let  no  man  take  it  from 
you.  But  remember  that  the  deed  which  conveys 
defines  also,  and  limits,  this  freedom.  And  re- 
member, too,  that  the  line  which  divides  between 
liberty  and  licentiousness  is  hut  a  line,  and  that  it 
is  easily  transgressed.  The  assassin's  dagger  is  not 
more  fatal  to  the  peace  of  the  community  than  the 
liar's  tongue  and  the  maligner's  fang.  Nor  does  the 
sacred  charter  of  the  freeman's  privileges  furnish  to 
the  one,  any  more  than  to  the  other,  an  asylum. 


CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATIONS.  105 


*  It  is  your  happiness  to  live  under  a  government 
of  laws.  Nor,  were  it  demonstrated  that  these  were 
impolitic,  or  even  oppressive,  would  it  justify  re- 
sistance. There  is  a  redeeming  principle  in  the 
Constitution  itself.  That  instrument  provides  a 
legitimate  remedy  for  grievances,  and,  unless  on 
great  emergencies,  the  only  rightful  one.  Under 
a  compact  like  ours,  the  majority  must  govern :  the 
minority  must  submit,  and  they  ought  to  submit. 
Not  by  constraint  merely,  but  for  conscience'  sake. 
The  powers  that  he  are  ordained  of  God;  and,  while 
they  execute  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  or- 
dained, to  resist  them  is  to  resist  the  ordinance  of 
God. 

'  You  remember  that  Jesus  Christ  paid  tribute 
even  unto  Cassar,  than  whom  there  has  not  lived  a 
more  execrable  tyrant.  You  remember,  too,  that 
his  immediate  foHowei'S,  as  became  the  disciples  of 
such  a  master,  everywhere  bowed  to  the  supremacy 
of  the  Roman  laws.  It  is  a  fact  that  will  ever  re- 
dound to  the  honour  of  the  Christian  church  and 
of  its  divine  Founder,  that  its  members,  though 
everywhere  oppressed  and  persecuted  for  three  suc- 
cessive centuries,  were  nowhere  implicated  in  those 
commotions  which  agitated  the  provinces,  nor  were 
they  ever  accessory  to  those  treasons  which,  during 
that  period,  so  often  stained  the  capital  with  blood. 
,  ^  In  the  worst  of  times,  therefore,  and  however  you 
may  differ  with  respect  to  men  and  measures,  still  cling 


106  YOUNG   men's 


to  the  Constitution;  clinq  to  the  integrity  op 
THE  Union  ;  cling  to  the  institutions  of  your  coun- 
try. These,  under  God,  are  your  political  ark  of 
safety;  the  ark  that  contains  the  cradle  of  liberty 
in  which  you  were  rocked,  that  preserves  the  vase 
of  Christianity  in  which  you  were  baptized,  and 
that  defends  the  sacred  urn  where  the  ashes  of  your 
patriot  fathers  moulder.  Cling,  therefore,  to  this 
ark,  and  defend  it  while  a  drop  of  blood  is  propelled 
from  your  heart  or  a  shred  of  muscle  quivers  on 
your  bones.  Triumph  as  the  friends  of  liberty,  of 
order,  of  religion,  or  fall  as  martyrs/ 

A  thrill  of  anxious  foreboding  runs  through 
every  bosom  in  this  broad  land.  The  national  life 
is  awake.  It  throbs  with  powerful  emotion.  It  is 
alarmed  for  its  own  safety.  False  and  treacherous 
physicians  wait  around,  but  only  that  by  their  bane- 
ful drugs  they  may  hasten  a  catastrophe;  while 
hungry  heirs,  from  whom  our  country  has  long  with- 
held the  full  measure  both  of  the  pre-eminence  and 
profit  they  desire,  are  ready  to  rejoice  over  her  as 
fallen, — sunk  behind  the  dark  clouds  of  desolation 
while  her  sun  was  yet  shining  more  and  more  towards 
her  promised  day  of  glorious,  unrivalled  splendour. 

Haste,  then,  to  her  relief.  The  United  States  of 
America  expects  that  every  man  will  do  his  duty. 
Only  secure  to  her  free  air,  prevent  these  poisonous 
dosings,  and  let  her  alone,  and,  with  Grod's  blessing 
sought   and   obtained  by  prayer,   there  is  vitality 


CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATIONS.  107 


enough  to  outgrow  all  her  distempers  and  to  live  to 
an  enduring  age  amid  the  joyful  acclamations  of  her 
own  numerous  posterity.     May  she  thus  live  the 

MOTHER  OF  US  ALL  ! 

May  she  thus  abide  with  us,  "  not  merely  as  a 
vast  instrumentality  for  the  protection  of  our  com- 
merce and  navigation,  and  for  achieving  power 
and  eminence  among  the  sovereigns  of  the  earth, 
but  as  a  means  of  improving  the  material  lot,  of 
elevating  the  moral  and  mental  nature,  and  of  in- 
suring the  personal  happiness,  of  the  millions  of 
many  distant  generations.^' 

Or,  to  change  our  figure :  the  ship  of  the  state 
is  in  the  midst  of  breakers  on  a  dangerous  coast. 
She  has  deranged  her  compass,  and  has  unshipped 
her  rudder.  She  has  no  certain  reckoning  to  guide 
her,  for  the  sun  has  not  been  visible  at  its  zenith 
for  many  days,  and  her  brave  and  noble  pilots  one 
after  another  have  been  washed  overboard  at  their 
dangerous  post.  What  are  we  to  do?  Lower  the 
boat,  and  let  every  man  that  can  escape  with  his 
plunder  do  so  ?  Not  at  all.  We  are  as  Paul  was. 
We  must  do  as  Paul  did.  Every  man  must  remain  at 
his  post  of  duty.  Not  a  soul  must  give  up  the  ship 
or  give  up  hope.  Only  abide  with  her.  Only  rec- 
tify the  compass  and  replace  the  rudder.  Only  cast 
overboard  every  weight,  every  false  reliance,  every 
carnal  policy,  every  self-seeking,  selfish,  and  merely- 
sectional  cargo ;  and  only  let  those  who  represent  Paul 


108  YOUNG   men's 


plead,  as  Paul  did,  witli  Paul's  divine  Master,  and 
not  a  soul  on  board  shall  perish.  He,  the  Lord  of 
all,  omnipotent  to  save,  will  come  to  our  relief.  He 
will  command  the  winds  and  the  waves,  and  they 
must  obey  him.  They  shall  be  at  peace.  The  storm- 
clouds  shall  roll  away  before  the  favouring  breeze. 
The  sun  shall  again  shine  forth  and  the  stars  appear 
in  their  brightness.  We  shall  all  come  safe  to  land. 
Not  one  shall  perish ;  and  there,  safely  moored,  all 
perils  over,  we  shall  all  together  swell  one  prayer  of 
praise  and  one  song  of  thanksgiving  to  Him  that 
hath  done  such  great  things  for  us.  United  in 
Christ,  the  Union  is  safe.  * 


.  *  **  When  my  eyes,"  said  Webster,  "shall  be  turned  to  behold 
for  the  last  time  the  sun  in  the  heavens,  may  I  not  see  him 
shining  on  the  broken  and  dishonoured  fragments  of  a  onco 
glorious  Union, — on  States  dissevered,  discordant,  belligerent, 
— on  a  land  rent  with  feuds,  or  drenched,  it  may  be,  in  fraternal 
blood.  Let  their  last  feeble  and  lingering  glance  rather  behold 
the  gorgeous  ensign  of  the  Republic,  now  known  and  honoured 
throughout  the  earth,  still  full-high  advanced,  its  arras  and 
trophies  streaming  in  their  original  lustre, — not  a  stripe  erased 
or  polluted,  not  a  single  star  obscured, — bearing  for  its  motto 
no  such  miserable  interrogatory  as,  'What  is  all  this  worth?' 
— nor  those  other  words  of  disunion  and  folly,  'Liberty  first, 
and  Union  afterward;'  but  everywhere — spread  all  over  in 
characters  of  living  light,  blazing  on  all  its  ample  folds,  as  they 
float  over  the  sea  and  over  the  land  and  in  every  wind  under 
the  whole  heavens — that  other  sentiment,  dear  to  every  true 
American  heart  : — '  Liberty  and  Union,  now  aud  forever,  one 
and  inseparable.' " 


CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATIONS.  109 


While  the  language  free  and  bold 

Which  the  bard  of  Avon  sung, — 
In  which  our  Milton  told 

How  the  vaults  of  heaven  rung, 
When  Satan,  blasted,  fell  with  all  his  host. 

While  these,  with  reverence  meet, 

Ten  thousand  echoes  greet. 

And  from  rock  to  rock  repeat 
Round  our  coast ! ! 
While  the  manners,  while  the  arts, 

That  mould  a  nation's  soul. 
Still  cling  around  our  hearts. 

Between  let  rivers  roll. 
Our  joint  communion  breaking  with  the  sun; 

Yet  still  from  either  side 

The  bands  of  love  stretched  wide, 

With  voice  of  blood  shall  reach, 

More  audible  than  speech. 
And  loud  proclaim  to  all  that  we  are  one. 

"I  have  been  abroad,"  says  President  Buchanan,  "in  other 
lands ;  I  have  witnessed  arbitrary  power ;  I  have  contemplated 
the  people  of  other  countries :  but  there  is  no  country  under 
God's  heavens  where  a  man  feels  for  his  fellow-man,  except  in 
the  United  States.  And  if  you  could  feel  how  despotism  looks 
on,  how  jealous  despotic  powers  of  the  world  are  of  our  glorious 
institutions,  you  would  cherish  the  Constitution  and  Union  in 
your  hearts, — next  to  your  belief  in  the  Christian  religion: — the 
Bible  for  heaven,  and  the  Constitution  of  your  country  for  earth." 

That  is  a  beautiful  figure  of  Winthrop's,  in  reference  to  our 
Constitution,  where  he  says,  "Like  one  of  those  wondrous 
rocking-stones  raised  by  the  Druids,  which  the  finger  of  a  child 
might  vibrate  to  the  centre  yet  the  might  of  an  army  could 
not  move  from  its  place,  our  Constitution  is  so  nicely  poised 
that  it  seems  to  sway  with  the  very  breath  of  passion,  yet  so 
firmly  based  in  the  hearts  and  affections  of  the  people,  that  the 
10 


110  YOUNG    men's 


THE    COMMUNION    OF    CITIZENSHIP   AND    THE   COM- 
MUNION   OF    SAINTS. 

Let  us  then, — for  I  am  one  of  your  fraternity, — 
let  us  clierisli  the  communion  of  citizenship,  and, 
above  all,  the  communion  of  saints,  the  brotherhood 
of  Christianity.  The  motto  of  our  national  union  is 
the  motto  also  of  our  Christian  union : — e  pluribus 
UNUM, — one  from  many, — many  united  into  one, — 
every  one  having  his  own  peculiar  and  independent 
institutions,  rights,  interests,  and  policy,  all  having  a 

wildest  storms  of  treason  and  fanaticism  break  over  it  in  vain." 
We  trust  that  this  may  be  verified. 

"our  native  land. 

"  Home  of  our  birth  !  our  dear-loved  land, 

Thy  glories  stretch  from  sea  to  sea  : 

From  ocean-lake  to  tropic  strand; 

Land  of  the  fearless  and  the  free ! 

"  From  Avhere  the  western  Grolden  Gate 
Gleams  ruddy  in  the  sunset  ray, 
To  where  the  stern  Atlantic  chain 
Looks  proudly  on  the  rising  day, — 

"  From  far  Niagara's  deluge  wild 
To  Florida's  perennial  flowers  : 
Ne'er  hath  the  sun  of  heaven  smiled 
On  such  a  heritage  as  ours. 

"*  God  and  the  Union  !'     This  our  creed, — 
Our  motto  this  forever  be  : 
So  shall  our  starry  banner  float 
Forever  o'er  the  brave  and  free  !" 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  Ill 


common  constitution,  common  dangers,  and  common 
glory  or  shame,  prosperity  or  progress.  And  thus 
also,  while  there  is  one  Lord  and  one  Spirit,  there 
are  various  gifts  and  diversities  of  administration  in 
every  church  and  in  every  individual  Christian. 
The  working  of  the  Spirit  in  the  one  universal 
church,  made  up  of  all  its  separate  members,  is  like 
'Hhe  breathings  of  the  wind  upon  the  ocean,  no  two 
waves  shaping  themselves  to  exact  uniformity,  and 
yet  all  curving  and  rippling  into  expressions  of  one 
great  law,  all  answering  to  each  other  in  perfect 
harmony  as  developments  of  one  great  principle. 
Every  Christian  has  his  own  differentia,  his  own 
peculiar  catalogue  of  hopes  and  aspirations  and  im- 
pulses ;  and  yet  he  has  also  so  much  in  common  with 
all  his  brethren  in  Christ  as  to  be  able  to  make 
their  language  his  own."  Hence  arise,  like  a  forest 
of  beautiful  peaks  soaring  heavenward  from  a  single 
mountain,  the  innumerable  blessings  not  only  of  the 
communion  of  saints,  but,  above  all,  of  holy  fellow- 
ship, holy  co-operation  and  striving  together  for 
the  furtherance  of  the  gospel. 

Let  us  then,  as  fellow-workmen  and  fellow-pil- 
grims, walk  hand  in  hand,  bearing  one  another's  bur- 
dens, helping  each  other's  infirmities,  forbearing  one 
another  in  love,  seeking  the  things  that  make  for 
peace,  each  minding  his  own  business  and  fulfilling 
his  own  task,  and  all  looking  for  and  hasting  unto  the 
coming  of  the  great  God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 


112  YOUNG   men's 


Come,  brothers  !  let  us  onward ; 

Night  comes  without  delay, 
And  in  this  howling  desert 

It  is  not  good  to  stay. 
Take  courage  and  be  strong  ; 

We  are  hasting  on  to  heaven  ; 

Strength  for  warfare  will  be  given, 
And  glory  won  ere  long. 

The  pilgrims'  path  of  trial 

"We  do  not  fear  to  view ; 
We  know  his  voice  who  calls  us, — 

We  know  him  to  be  true. 
Then  let  who  will  contemn. 

Come  strong  in  his  Almighty  grace, 

Come,  every  one  with  steadfast  face ! 
On  to  Jerusalem ! 


0  brothers,  soon  is  ended 

The  journey  we've  begun; 
Endure  a  little  longer, — 

The  race  will  soon  be  run. 
And  in  the  land  of  rest — 

In  yonder  bright  eternal  home 

Where  all  the  Father's  loved  ones  come— 
We  shall  be  safe  and  blest. 

Then,  boldly  let  us  venture  ! 

This,  this  is  worth  the  cost : 
Though  dangers  we  encounter, 

Though  every  thing  is  lost, 
0  world  !  how  vain  thy  call ! 

Wo  follow  him  who  Avent  before, 

We  follow,  to  th'  eternal  shore, 
Jesus,  our  all-in-all. 


CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATIONS.  113 


THE    APPEAL. 


God,  my  brothers,  will  not  leave  us; 

Still  his  heaven  is  o'er  us  bent; 
His  commandments  are  not  grievous  i 

Do  his  will,  and  be  content. 
Only  truth  and  love  shall  flourish 

In  the  end,  beloved  mates ; 
Only  charity  can  nourish 

Those  whom  charity  creates. 
Believe  in  God. 


You  have  wrongs  by  forge  and  furnace, 

You  have  darkness,  you  have  dread; 
But  you  work  in  radiant  harness, 

And  your  God  is  overhead. 
Does  not  night  bring  forth  the  morning? 

Does  not  darkness  father  light? 
Even  now  we  have  forewarning, 

Brothers,  of  the  close  of  night. 
Believe  in  God. 


Many,  many  are  the  shadows 

That  the  dawn  of  truth  reveals 
Beautiful  on  life's  broad  meadows 

Is  the  light  the  Christian  feels. 
Evil  shall  give  place  to  goodness, 

Wrong  be  dispossessed  by  right; 
Out  of  old  chaotic  rudeness 

God  evokes  a  world  of  light. 
Believe  in  God. 


114  CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATION. 


Do  ye  toil  ?     Oh,  freer,  firmer 

Ye  shall  grow  beneath  your  toil ; 
Only  craven  spirits  murmur, 

Lightly  rooted  in  the  soil. 
Through  the  gloom,  and  through  the  darkness, 

Through  the  danger  and  the  dole, 
Through  the  mist  and  through  the  murkness, 

Travels  the  great  human  soul. 
Believe  in  God. 

I  through  doubt  and  darkness  travel 

Through  the  agony  and  gloom, 
Hoping  that  I  shall  unravel 

This  strange  web  beyond  the  tomb. 
0  my  brothers  !  men  heroic  ! 

Workers  both  with  hand  and  brain! 
'Tis  the  Christian — not  the  Stoic — 

That  best  triumphs  over  pain. 
Believe  in  God. 

0  my  brothers !  love  and  labour! 

Conquer  wrong  by  doing  right ; 
Truth  alone  must  be  your  sabre. 

Love  alone  your  shield  in  fight. 
Virtue  yet  shall  cancel  vices; 

Look  above,  beloved  mates  ! 
Only  God  himself  sufiices 

Those  whom  God  alone  creates. 
Believe  in  God. 


APPENDIX, 


SKETCHES  OF  YOUNG  MEN. 

Alexander  of  Macedox  extended  his  power  over 
Greece,  conquered  Egypt,  rebuilt  Alexandria,  overran 
all  Asia,  and  died  at  thirty-eight  years  of  age. 

Hannibal  was  but  twenty-five  when,  after  the  fall  of 
his  father  Harailcar,  and  Asdrubal  his  successor,  he 
was  chosen  commander-in-chief  of  the  Carthaginian 
arm  J.  At  twenty-seven,  he  captured  Saguntum  from 
the  Romans.  Before  he  was  thirty-four,  he  carried 
his  arms  from  Africa  into  Italy,  conquered  Publius 
Scipio  on  the  banks  of  the  Ticinus,  routed  Sempronius 
near  the  Trebia,  defeated  Flaminius  on  his  approach 
to  the  Apennines,  laid  waste  the  Avhole  country,  de- 
feated Fabius  Maximus  and  Yarro,  marched  into 
Capua,  and  at  the  age  of  thirty-five  was  thundering 
at  the  gates  of  Rome. 

Scipio  Africanus  Avas  scarcely  sixteen  when  he  took 
an  active  part  in  the  battle  of  Cannas  and  saved  the 
life  of  his  fjither.  The  wreck  of  the  Roman  cavalry 
chose  him  then  for  their  leader,  and  he  conducted  them 
back  to  the  capital.  After  he  was  twenty,  he  was  ap- 
pointed proconsul  of  Spain,  where  he  took  New  Car- 

115 


116  APPENDIX. 


thage  by  storm.  Soon  after  he  defeated  successively 
Asdrubal,  (Hannibal's  brother,)  Mago,  and  Hann, 
crossed  over  into  Africa,  negotiating  vyith  Syphax,  the 
Massasylian  king,  returned  to  Spain,  quelled  the  in- 
surrection there,  drove  the  Carthaginians  wholly  from 
the  peninsula,  returned  to  Rome,  devised  the  diversion 
against  the  Carthaginians  by  carrying  the  war  into 
Africa,  crossed  thither,  destroyed  the  army  of  Syphax, 
compelled  the  return  of  Hannibal,  and  defeated  Asdru- 
bal a  second  time. 

Charlemagne  was  crowned  King  of  the  Franks  before 
he  was  twenty-six.  At  the  age  of  twenty-eight,  he  had 
conquered  Aquitania ;  at  the  age  of  thirty,  he  made 
himself  master  of  the  whole  German  and  French 
Empires. 

Charles  XII.,  of  Sweden,  was  declared  of  age  by  the 
States,  and  succeeded  his  father,  at  the  age  of  fifteen. 
At  eighteen,  he  headed  the  expedition  against  the 
Danes,  whom  he  checked ;  and,  with  a  fourth  of  their 
numbers,  he  cut  to  pieces  the  Russian  army,  com- 
manded by  the  Czar  Peter,  at  Narva,  crossed  the 
Dwina,  gained  a  victory  over  the  Saxons,  and  carried 
his  arms  into  Poland.  At  twenty-one,  he  had  con- 
quered Poland  and  dictated  to  them  a  new  sovereign. 
At  twenty-four  he  had  subdued  Saxony,  and  at  twenty- 
seven  he  was  conducting  his  victorious  troops  into  the 
heart  of  Russia,  when  a  severe  wound  prevented  his 
taking  command  in  person,  and  resulted  in  his  over- 
throw and  subsequent  treacherous  captivity  in  Turkey. 

Lafayette  was  major-general  in  the  American  army 
at  the  age  of  eighteen ;  was  but  twenty  when  he  was 
wounded  at  the  battle  of  Brandywine ;  but  twenty-two 


SKETCHES   OF    YOUNG    MEN.  117 


^'hen  he  raised  supplies  for  his  army,  on  his  own 
credit,  at  Baltimore  ;  and  but  twenty-three  when  raised 
to  the  office  of  commander-in-chief  of  the  National 
Guards  of  France. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte  commenced  his  military  career 
as  an  officer  of  artillery  at  the  siege  of  Toulon.  His  *■ 
splendid  campaign  in  Italy  was  performed  at  the  age 
of  twenty-seven.  During  the  next  year,  when  he  was 
about  twenty-eight,  he  gained  battle  after  battle  over 
the  Austrians  in  Italy,  conquered  Mantua,  carried  the 
war  into  Austria,  ravaged  the  Tyrol,  concluded  an 
advantageous  peace,  took  possession  of  Milan  and  the 
Venetian  Republic,  revolutionized  Genoa,  and  formed 
the  Cisalpine  Republic.  At  the  age  of  twenty-nine,  he 
received  the  command  of  the  army  against  Egypt, 
scattered  the  clouds  of  Mameluke  cavalry,  mastered 
Alexandria,  Aboukir,  and  Cairo,  and  wrested  the  land 
of  the  Pharaohs  and  Ptolemies  from  the  proud  de- 
scendants of  the  prophet.  At  the  age  of  thirty  he  fell 
among  the  Parisians  like  a  thunderbolt,  overthrew  the 
directorial  government,  dispersed  the  Council  of  Five 
Hundred,  and  was  proclaimed  first  consul.  At  the 
age  of  thirty-one  he  crossed  the  Alps  with  an  army, 
and  destroyed  the  Austrians  by  a  blow  at  Marengo, 
At  the  age  of  thirty-two  he  established  the  Code  of 
Napoleon  ;  in  the  same  year  he  was  elected  consul  for 
life  by  the  people,  and  at  the  age  of  thirty-three  he 
was  declared  Emperor  of  the  French  nation. 

William  Pitt,  the  first  Earl  of  Chatham,  was  but 
twenty-seven  years  of  age  when,  as  a  member  of  Par- 
liament, he  waged  the  war  of  a  giant  against  the  cor- 
ruptions of  Sir  Robert  Walpole. 


118  APPENDIX. 


The  younger  Pitt  was  scarcely  twenty  years  of  age 
when,  with  masterly  power,  he  grappled  with  the 
veterans  in  Parliament  in  favour  of  America.  At 
twenty-two  he  was  called  to  the  high  and  responsible 
trust  of  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.  It  was  his 
age  when  he  came  forth  in  his  might  on  the  affairs  of 
the  East  Indies.  At  twenty-nine,  during  the  first  in- 
sanity of  George  III.,  he  rallied  around  the  Prince  of 
Wales. 

Edmund  Burke,  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  planned  a 
refutation  of  the  metaphysical  theories  of  Berkeley  and 
Hume.  At  twenty  he  was  in  the  Temple,  the  admira- 
tion of  its  inmates  for  the  brilliancy  of  his  genius  and 
the  variety  of  his  acquisitions.  At  twenty-six  he  pub- 
lished his  celebrated  satire  entitled  "A  Vindication  of 
Natural  Society.''  The  same  year  he  published  his 
"Essay  on  the  Sublime  and  Beautiful," — so  much  ad- 
mired for  its  spirit  of  philosophical  investigation  and 
the  elegance  of  its  language.  At  twenty-five  he  was 
First  Lord  of  the  Treasury. 

George  Washington  was  only  twenty-seven  years  of 
age  when  he  covered  the  retreat  of  the  British  troops 
at  Braddock's  defeat,  and  the  same  year  was  appointed 
commander-in-chief  of  all  the  Virginia  forces. 

General  Joseph  Warren  was  only  twenty-nine  years 
of  age  when,  in  defiance  of  the  British  soldiers  stationed 
at  the  door  of  the  church,  he  pronounced  the  celebrated 
oration  which  aroused  the  spirit  of  liberty  and  patriot- 
ism that  terminated  in  the  achievement  of  independ- 
ence. At  thirty-four  he  gloriously  fell,  gallantly 
fighting  for  the  cause  of  freedom,  on  Bunker  Hill. 

Alexander  Hamilton  was  a  lieutenant-colonel  in  the 


SKETCHES    OF   YOUNG    MEN.  119 


army  of  the  American  Revolution  and  aide-de-camp  to 
Washington  at  the  age  of  twenty.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-jfive  he  was  a  member  of  Congress  from  New 
York ;  at  thirty  he  was  one  of  the  ablest  members  of 
the  Convention  that  formed  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  At  thirty-one  he  was  a  member  of  the 
New  York  Convention,  and  joint  author  of  the  great 
work  entitled  the  '*  Federalist."  At  thirty-two  he  was 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States,  and 
arranged  the  financial  branch  of  the  government  upon 
so  perfect  a  plan  that  no  great  improvement  has  ever 
been  made  upon  it  by  his  successors. 

Thomas  Haywood,  of  North  Carolina,  was  but  thirty 
years  of  age  when  he  signed  the  glorious  record  of  a 
nation's  birth, — the  Declaration  of  Independence.  El- 
bridge  Gerry,  of  Massachusetts,  Benjamin  Rush  and 
James  Wilson,  of  Pennsylvania,  were  but  thirty-one 
years  of  age;  Matthew  Thornton,  of  New  Hampshire, 
thirty-one;  Thomas  Jefferson,  of  Virginia,  Arthur 
Middleton,  of  South  Carolina,  and  Thomas  Stone,  of 
Maryland,  thirty-three ;  and  William  Hooper,  of  North 
Carolina,  thirty-four. 

John  Jay,  at  twenty-nine  years  of  age,  was  a  member 
of  the  Revolutionary  Congress,  and,  being  associated 
with  Lee  and  Livingston  on  the  committee  for  draft- 
ing an  address  to  the  people  of  Great  Britain,  drew  up 
that  paper  himself,  which  was  considered  one  of  the 
most  eloquent  productions  of  the  time.  At  thirty-two 
he  penned  the  Constitution  of  New  York,  and  in  the 
same  year  was  appointed  chief-justice  of  the  State. 
At  thirty-four  he  was  appointed  minister  to  Spain. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-six,  Thomas  Jefferson  was  a 


120  APPENDIX. 


ginia.  At  thirty  he  was  a  member  of  the  Virginia 
Convention ;  at  thirty-two  a  member  of  Congress ;  at 
thirty -three  he  drafted  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

Milton,  at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  had  written  his 
finest  miscellaneous  poems,  including  his  "L' Allegro/' 
*'  Penseroso,"  "  Comus/'  and  the  most  beautiful  of  his 
monodies. 

Lord  Byron,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  published  his 
celebrated  satire  upon  the  "English  Bards  and  Scotcii 
Eeviewers;"  at  twenty-three,  the  first  two  cantos  of 
"  Childe  Harold's  Pilgrimage."  Indeed,  all  the  poetic 
treasures  of  his  genius  were  poured  forth  in  their 
richest  profusion  before  he  was  thirty-four  years  old ; 
and  he  died  at  thirty-seven. 

Mozart,  the  great  German  musician,  completed  all 
his  noblest  compositions  before  he  was  thirty-foui' 
years  old ;  and  he  died  at  thirty-six. 

Pope  wrote  his  published  poems  by  the  time  he  was 
nineteen  years  old ;  at  twenty  his  "  Essay  on  Criticism ;" 
at  twenty-one  the  "Ptape  of  the  Lock  /'  and  at  twenty- 
five  his  great  work, — the  translation  of  the  Iliad. 

Br.  D wight's  "Conquest  of  Canaan"  was  commenced 
at  the  age  of  sixteen  and  finished  at  twenty-two.  At  the 
latter  age  he  composed  hi*  celebrated  Dissertation  on 
the  history,  eloquence,  and  poetry  of  the  Bible,  which 
was  immediately  published,  and  republished  in  Europe. 

This  list  might  be  indefinitely  multiplied  by  a  re- 
ference to  poets,  reformers,  divines,  and  missionaries, 
most  of  whom  began  early  to  develop  and  work  out 
their  mission  for  humanity,  and,  having  done  so, 
passed  to  their  rest  and  recompense. 


THE   PLACE   FOR   YOUNG   MEN.  121 


II. 


We  append  the  following  article,  which  has  just  ap- 
peared in  the  Richmond  Central  Presbyterian,  both  as- 
a  very  just  delineation  of  these  Associations  and  as 
presenting  in  the  one  at  Richmond  a  good  model  to 
others. 

THE  PLACE  FOR  YOUNa  MEN. 

One  of  the  noblest  Institutions  in  this  city  is  the- 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  The  pious  in- 
genuity of  the  good  has  never  devised  an  organization 
better  fitted  to  accomplish  two  great  and  important 
ends,  viz.:  the  social,  intellectual,  and  moral  improve- 
ment of  its  own  members,  and  the  temporal  and 
spiritual  welfare  of  those  not  connected  with  it,  yet 
in  whose  behalf  this  organization  exerts  its  influence. 

There  is  such  variety  in  its  plans  and  in  its  means 
of  usefulness  that  it  is  practically  the  ally  of  nearly 
every  good  enterprise  known  to  society  and  to  the 
church. 

There  is  so  much  symmetry  in  its  constitution,  and. 
such  is  the  practical  working  of  its  different  depart- 
ments of  labour,  that  it  is  capable  of  becoming  the 
auxiliary  to  more  objects  of  philanthropy  and  religion 
than  any  other  society  of  which  we  have  any  know- 
ledge. It  has  its  committees  for  seeking  out  and  re- 
lieving the  destitute,  for  visiting  the  inmates  of  poor- 
houses  and  hospitals,  for  making  the  acquaintance  of 
young  men  on  their  first  arrival  in  the  city,  for  the 
11 


APPENDIX. 


purpose  of  aiding  them  in  finding  employment  and  for 
the  purpose  of  surrounding  them  with  moral  and  reli- 
gious influences;  it  furnishes  teachers  to  Sabbath- 
schools,  it  conducts  strangers  to  the  house  of  God:  in  a 
word,  responsive  to  every  call  of  benevolence  and  Chris- 
tian zeal,  this  Society  comes  forward  in  all  the  alacrity 
and  ardour  of  its  youthful  vigour,  with  the  offer  of  its 
warm  heart  and  strong  arm,  feeling  honoured  in  having 
its  services  accepted,  and  delighting  to  render  its  effi- 
cient aid.  Such  are  its  relations  to  society  at  large  ; 
such  its  external  work. 

As  to  its  inner  life,  we  feel  assured  that,  had  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  no  other  object 
than  the  improvement  of  its  own  members,  this  alone 
would  render  it  worthy  of  the  sympathy  and  support 
of  every  youth  of  generous  feelings  and  honourable 
principles ;  for  such  is  the  nature  of  its  organization 
that  it  calls  into  play  and  develops  the  finest  social 
qualities  of  our  nature ;  it  throws  young  men  to- 
gether in  such  a  way  as  to  excite  the  kindest  interest 
in  each  other,  to  soften  and  break  down  prejudices, 
and  to  awaken  sentiments  of  mutual  esteem  and 
friendship. 

Unlike  other  associations  among  young  men  which 
sometimes  lead  to  rivalries^  and  discord, — to  the  en- 
couragement of  coarse  and  vulgar  manners,  to  the  in- 
dulgence of  a  taste  for  low  and  degrading  pleasures, 
and  to  the  formation  perhaps  of  dissipated  habits, — 
the  intercourse  which  results  from  tliis  association  is 
all  elevating,  pure,  and  refining.  It  tends  to  repress 
whatever  is  rude,  selfish,  and  sensual,  and  to  give  de- 
velopment to  all  that  is  disinterested,  generous,  and 


THE  PLACE  FOR  YOUNG  MEN.       123 


manly ;  for  around  all  of  its  meetings,  even  those 
which  are  merely  literary  and  most  unreservedly  social. 
there  is  thrown  the  gentle  and  sweetly-constraining 
influence  of  our  common  Christianity ;  and  in  all  the 
genial  flow  of  youthful  spirits,  in  all  the  collision  of 
mind  with  mind,  while  there  is  every  thing  in  the 
ardour  and  spirit  and  glow  of  the  intercourse  to  make 
it  plain  that  it  is  a  young  men's  association,  still,  it  is 
never  forgotten  that  it  is  a  young  men's  CJiristian 
association. 

For  the  entertainment  and  profit  of  its  members  it 
has  established  a  library  and  reading-room  ;  it  has  its 
meetings  for  friendly  intercourse,  its  rhetorical  society 
for  literary  exercises  and  forensic  discussions,  its 
meetings  for  business  and  its  meetings  for  prayer : 
and,  in  addition  to  these  means  of  mental  and  spiritual 
improvement,  it  has  formed  another  circle  for  the 
study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  On  every  Thursday 
night  the  Hall  of  the  Association  is  thrown  open  to  all 
who  are  willing  to  attend  informal  lectures  and  exa- 
minations on  portions  of  Scripture  selected  for  the 
occasion.  This  class  is  under  the  direction  of  one  of 
the  pastors  of  the  city ;  and  any  young  man  who  de- 
sires to  become  a  member  of  it  is  at  liberty  to  do  so, 
whether  he  is  a  member  of  any  church  or  not,  and 
whether  he  is  a  member  of  the  Association  or  not. 


THE    END. 


STEKfiOTYPED   BV   L.   JOi^NSuN   <k    CO.    PHILADELPHIA. 


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